How Billings, Montana, became the top place to buy a home in the U.S.

(Image credit: AP Photo/Matthew Brown)

published 21 July 2021

Billings, Montana, has become the place to buy a home in the United States — at least according to The Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Markets Index.

The rise to the top of the index isn't completely out of the blue for the city, which has a population of 184,000, since it was previously in the fourth spot. But Billings got a boost thanks to its low unemployment (in May, the rate was 3 percent, which is about half of the U.S. rate), affordability, outdoor activities, and booming housing market, the Journal writes.

The Journal notes that the housing market's strength has been driven, in large part, by out-of-state buyers who now have the flexibility to work remotely in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Per the Journal, about 65 percent of page views on Billings property listings came from outside the metro area in the second quarter of 2021, and folks are reportedly not only moving to Billings from coastal states like California and Washington, but Kentucky and Texas, as well. It appears second-home buyers, a group that's driving up in prices in some other smaller cities across the U.S., aren't a big factor here, with just 3 percent of Billings homes serving as vacation properties, Realtor.com notes.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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