Moving from Delaware to Montana
Everyone compares rent and groceries. Almost nobody compares the two numbers that actually decide whether a move works: state income tax and property tax. Here is Delaware and Montana, side by side.
Moving to Montana costs about
-$540/mo
less than Delaware each month, renting
Worth knowing
The move pays for itself in about 9 months
Moving costs somewhere around $4,361, and Montana runs about $540 a month cheaper. After roughly 9 months you are ahead.
Delaware vs Montana at a glance
| Delaware | Montana | |
|---|---|---|
| Median home price | $352,000 | $375,800 |
| Median rent | $1,401/mo | $1,081/mo |
| State income tax | Up to 6.60% | Up to 5.65% |
| Property tax rate | 0.50% | 0.72% |
| Groceries, gas & goods | 96 | 96 |
| Utilities | 104 | 72 |
Price levels are indexes where 100 is the national average. They cover everyday spending only; housing is the two rows above.
What changes each month
| Monthly | DE | MT | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing | |||
| Housing (median rent)Biggest factor | $1,401 | $1,081 | -$320 |
| Taxes | |||
| State income tax | $337 | $263 | -$74 |
| Local income tax (state average) | $11 | None | -$11 |
| Sales tax (on everyday spending) | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Everyday costs | |||
| Groceries, gas & goods | $1,763 | $1,760 | -$3 |
| Utilities | $424 | $295 | -$129 |
| Total | -$540 | ||
What the move itself costs
$3,700 to $7,800
From a container you load yourself up to full-service movers.
Shipping one car adds about $1,000 to $1,450, against roughly $800 in fuel and lodging to drive it the 5-day trip yourself.
These are statewide figures. Dover is not Delaware-average and Billings is not Montana-average, so a specific city can look nothing like its state. Compare metro areas instead to narrow it to 387 real places, including which side of a state line you would live on.
Run this with your own numbers
Estimates only, not advice. Housing and income figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (2024); price levels from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (2024); tax rates are for the 2026 tax year, compiled from state revenue departments and the Tax Foundation. Moving costs are modelled from published ranges rather than quoted. Every figure is a statewide median or average and will not match any particular household.