Montana · Yellowstone County

Billings Authority

Population

119,434

Median income

$73,712

Median age

39

Figures from U.S. Census ACS — each figure links to its source query.

Also known as: Billings Metro Authority

Billings is the largest city in Montana, which is itself a state of considerable size and relatively modest population, a combination that gives Billings an outsized civic role relative to what its street grid might suggest. With a total population of 119,434 according to Census ACS 5-Year 2024 data, it functions as the commercial and medical hub for a region that extends well beyond Yellowstone County's borders.

Demographics and Age Structure

The median age in Billings is 38.8 years, according to Census ACS 5-Year 2024, placing it in a range that demographers tend to describe as family-oriented, and the numbers bear that out. Of the city's 119,434 residents, 26,244 are under 18, representing roughly 22 percent of the total population. The 18-to-34 cohort numbers 27,710. Total households stand at 50,340, of which 29,170 are family households, per Census ACS 5-Year 2023.

The racial composition, per the same source, includes 102,061 white residents, 8,520 Hispanic or Latino residents, 1,205 Black residents, and 1,013 Asian residents.

Housing and Affordability

The home price-to-income ratio in Billings is 4.7, derived from Census income and housing data, which places the city in the moderate affordability range — not the strained double-digits of coastal metros, but meaningfully above the ratios that prevailed here a generation ago. Renters fare somewhat better: rent as a percentage of income sits at 17.9 percent, a figure that qualifies as affordable by the conventional threshold of 30 percent. These are aggregate figures, and individual circumstances vary considerably, but as a structural matter Billings remains more accessible than many comparably sized regional centers.

Air Quality

The EPA's AQI Annual Summary for 2024 recorded 357 days with measurable air quality data for the Billings area. Of those, 272 were classified as good days and 84 as moderate. One day fell into the unhealthy-for-sensitive-groups category. There were no unhealthy, very unhealthy, or hazardous days recorded. The maximum AQI reached 105; the median AQI was in the good range.

This is worth pausing on. The regulatory framework governing Billings air quality has a specific federal designation: under 40 CFR § 81.88, the area is defined as the Billings Intrastate Air Quality Control Region, a name that replaced the earlier designation of Metropolitan Billings Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The region's boundaries are drawn to encompass the territorial area of all municipalities within its outermost limits, as defined under section 302(f) of the Clean Air Act. The renaming is the kind of administrative tidying that happens quietly in the Federal Register and rarely makes the local news, but it does mean that when federal agencies discuss air quality compliance for this part of Montana, they are referring to a precisely bounded jurisdiction with a specific regulatory history.

Climate

The NOAA ACIS station at Billings International Airport, located 2.1 miles from the city center, records an average temperature of 48.9 degrees Fahrenheit and annual precipitation of 15.2 inches. That precipitation figure is modest — Billings sits in the rain shadow of the Rockies, and the landscape around it reflects that — but the temperature average conceals a range that residents understand well: winters that arrive with conviction and summers that are genuinely warm.

Education

Census ACS data identifies 43 schools serving the Billings area. At the postsecondary level, NCES IPEDS 2022 data lists three colleges in the city. The most prominent is Montana State University Billings, which according to College Scorecard data enrolls 2,626 students, charges in-state tuition of $7,280 and out-of-state tuition of $22,897, and reports a completion rate of 29.12 percent. That completion rate is a number worth understanding in context: MSU Billings serves a significant proportion of first-generation and working-adult students, populations whose completion timelines and patterns differ from traditional residential undergraduates.

Broadband Infrastructure

According to FCC Broadband Data Collection figures as of June 2025, 100 percent of housing units in Billings have access to broadband at the 25/3 Mbps threshold, at the 100/20 Mbps threshold, and at the 250/25 Mbps threshold. Access at the 1,000/100 Mbps tier reaches 31.8 percent of the city's 60,835 total housing units. Full coverage at the lower tiers is notable; the gap at the gigabit tier reflects infrastructure investment patterns that are common in cities of this size and geography.

Civic and Cultural Organizations

The IRS Exempt Organizations BMF identifies 7 arts organizations operating in Billings, including the Billings Symphony Society, the Billings Pops Orchestra, the Billings Ballet Company, and the Rimrock Opera Foundation, among others. The Montana Association of Symphony Orchestras is also headquartered here, which reflects the city's role as a regional anchor for the performing arts across a state where distances between population centers are substantial.

Civic service organizations number 54 according to the IRS BMF, including entities such as the Yellowstone County 4-H Council and the National Exchange Club. The IRS BMF also identifies 66 religious congregations operating in the city, and the Billings Chamber of Commerce appears in the same registry.

There is one registered animal shelter, Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter Inc., per IRS EO BMF data.

Childcare

Montana's childcare licensing data identifies 19 licensed childcare facilities in Billings, including center-based operations such as A Small World Early Childhood Center on Main Street and Bibs to Books on Hansen Lane, among others. The count of 19 facilities serves a city with 26,244 residents under 18, a ratio that childcare researchers and local planners track closely as a measure of family infrastructure.

Banking

FDIC branch data shows multiple banking institutions operating in Billings, including Stockman Bank of Montana's Billings Heights Branch at 800 Main Street and Little Horn State Bank's Billings Branch, among others.

Regulatory Context

The Billings Municipal Code is maintained on Municode and is accessible at https://library.municode.com/mt/billings-city-montana. Montana state law provides relevant context for certain local regulatory questions: under Mont. Code Ann. § 37-45-204, political subdivisions of the state may not require separate registrations, licenses, or bonds for construction contractors who are already registered at the state level, though local governments retain the authority to levy general, nondiscriminatory business license fees applicable to all businesses. Separately, Mont. Code Ann. § 37-67-328 establishes that business entities engaging in professional engineering or land surveying in Montana must obtain a certificate of authorization from the state board before doing so.

These provisions shape the operating environment for contractors and professional service firms in Billings in ways that are not always immediately obvious from reading local ordinances alone.

Further Reading

• U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates — data.census.gov
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, AQI Annual Summary 2024 — AirData
• Federal Communications Commission, Broadband Data Collection — FCC BDC
• National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS Institutional Data — nces.ed.gov/ccd/