#MTGov Daily Rundown: Montana Ranked as the 8th Worst State to Make a Living

Forbes recently highlighted the personal finance site MoneyRates.com's annual list of the "Top 10 and Worst Ten States to Make a Living." While Governor Bullock has spent his campaign attempting to tout Montana's economy, the ratings found Montana to be the 8th worst state to make a living.

"To determine the best and worst states to make a living this year, personal finance site MoneyRates.com considered average wages, taxes, cost of living, unemployment rate, and incidents of workplace safety incidents (including illness, injuries, and deaths. The study drew on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER), and D.C. think tank the Tax Foundation." -Forbes

The findings show that Montana's ratings suffer because of the state's low wages and relatively personal income tax burden. This was noted in a USA Today article on last year's findings.

"Montana suffers much of the same economic pitfalls as South Dakota, and ranks as the No. 7 worst state to make a living. Montana enjoys low unemployment and an average cost of living index, but the average income is $39,880. Unlike South Dakota, Montana also has a state income tax, costing an estimated average of $2,208.72." -USA Today, 7/5/2016

In overall wages, Montana is 49th in the country. The state is 50th in income for millennials.

"In the group’s most recent report on tax return data by state and county, Montana ranked 49th — just above Mississippi and right below New Mexico — for wages and salaries reported in tax returns, with Montanans earning an average of $33,180 annually.

That’s more than $10,000 below the national average and almost $27,000 below the state with the highest average income: Connecticut." -Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 4/12/2015

“When it comes to the reasons people live in Montana, wages are not at the top of the list. But you might be surprised to know that the state ranks dead last in median income for millennials.  Millennials are defined by the Pew Research Center as people born between 1981 and 1997. A new study featured in Business Insider found millennials in Montana earn a median annual income of $18,000, the lowest in country.” NBC Montana, 12/14/2015

In addition to the low wages, a Gallup Survey found that Montana had a "very low" rating or good jobs, despite several nearby state performing quite well in the survey. Also, Montana's neighbor to the South, Wyoming, was rated by Forbes as the top state to make a living defying claims that lowly populated rural states can't provide a good living.

Montana's economic difficulties have very real consequences, as 1 in 6 Montanans now live in poverty.

"In 2012, some 152,199 Montanans, or 15.5 percent, lived in poverty; last year, 163,637, or 16.5 percent, people were categorized as living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

That means one in six Montanans lived in poverty in 2013, with poverty defined as $23,830 for a family of four in 2013, or $11,890 for an individual." -Billings Gazette 10/2/2014


While Governor Bullock argues that the overall economy is improving, last month news broke that Montana has actually experienced two consecutive quarters of NEGATIVE economic growth.

"The Montana economy has shrunk for the second straight quarter as oil and gas, timber, mining, agriculture and transportation all reported losses.

The Billings Gazette reports that according to a Bureau of Economic Analysis report issued this week, drops in industry pulled Montana’s gross domestic product into negative figures for the last three months of 2015 as well as the first quarter of 2016." -Associated Press via the Great Falls Tribune 7/31/2016