Population

Updated: February 2, 2026

Montana covers a huge area but has relatively few people. It is the fourth-largest state in the United States by land area (more than 147,000 square miles), but it ranks near the bottom for population density, with only about 8 people per square mile on average.

As of the mid-2020s, Montana's population is a little over 1.1 million people, which is about the same number of people who live in a single large U.S. city. Because that small population is spread out over such a large area, Montana feels very open and uncrowded, especially once you leave the bigger towns and cities.

Most Montanans live in or near a few main cities, such as Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, Bozeman, Butte, and Helena. Many other communities are much smaller, and nearly half of the state's residents live in rural areas, small towns, or on farms and ranches.

All of this means that Montana has plenty of "elbow room." You can drive for miles between small towns, hike without seeing many other people, and still find wide-open spaces, mountains, prairies, and big skies that make the state feel very different from crowded parts of the country.

• Population Statistics
• Montana's Largest and Smallest Cities

Updated: February 2, 2026