Homes With Land for Sale in Montana: 10 Real Listings Under $400,000

The typical Montana home sold for $522,823 in August 2026, according to Redfin. That is the number that makes people assume this state is out of reach. But the land under Montana’s houses tells a different story: farmland and ranchland here average just $1,297 an acre in the USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture, and in the state’s cheapest county, Big Horn, it is $649.

Put those two numbers next to each other and the whole market makes sense. Across the nine homes on this page that come with their own ground, the land underneath is worth an average of only 5.1% of the asking price, measured against each county’s own USDA figure. When you shop homes with land for sale in Montana, you are paying for the house, the well, the septic, the roof and the location. The acreage is almost a rounding error. That changes what a fair price looks like, and it changes where you should look.

This guide has two halves, and they age very differently. The first half is permanent: what farmland is worth in each county this batch touches, why Montana land is cheap while Montana houses are not, and the state rules that decide what you really pay to own a place here. It is worth bookmarking. The second half is a moment in time: ten real homes that were for sale in late September 2026, from $39,900 to $395,000, on anything from a town lot to 40 acres. Treat them as evidence, not as inventory.

Two honest disclosures before you scroll. The cheapest home on the list, in Glendive, is a manufactured home on a rented lot: you buy the house, not the ground, and the lot rent is $500 a month. It is here as the lowest-cost way into the state, and it is flagged again in its own section. And two others, in Westby and Gildford, sit on town lots of a third of an acre and 1.31 acres. They are homes with a yard, not homesteads.

Watch the Full Tour

All ten homes were filmed for the video version of this guide, with the photos, the drive-in shots and Mark’s read on each place. If you would rather watch than read, start here, then come back for the county data and the math behind these homes with land for sale in Montana.

Homes With Land for Sale in Montana: the numbers in short

What You’ll Find: Homes With Land for Sale in Montana

The permanent half of this page comes first, because it is the part that still works a year from now. Below is what farmland is worth in each of the nine counties this batch touches, the reasons Montana’s land is cheap and its houses are not, and the state rules that decide what you actually pay to own one. After that comes the dated snapshot: ten listings, their numbers and an honest read on each. If you are comparing homes with land for sale in Montana, read the county table before a single listing, because it tells you whether the acreage in a price is worth paying for at all.

Montana has 56 counties and 24,266 farms working 57,601,320 acres, more farmland than every state except Texas. The nine counties below are the ones where this batch of homes sits, ranked from cheapest to most expensive. The fifth column shows what five acres of farm ground is worth at that county’s census average, which is the quickest way to see how little of a listing price the land can explain.

Rank of 56	County	Region	Avg $/Acre	5 Acres at That Rate	Acres in Farms
10	Dawson	Lower Yellowstone	$981	$4,905	1,177,000
14	McCone	Eastern plains	$1,055	$5,275	1,127,416
16	Hill	Hi-Line	$1,066	$5,330	1,854,358
26	Cascade	Central (Great Falls)	$1,234	$6,170	1,364,780
27	Liberty	Hi-Line / Golden Triangle	$1,237	$6,185	913,606
35	Sheridan	Northeast corner	$1,554	$7,770	991,016
39	Powell	Blackfoot Valley	$1,783	$8,915	549,419
41	Beaverhead	Southwest Montana	$1,883	$9,415	1,012,816
55	Ravalli	Bitterroot Valley	$9,096	$45,480	188,084
—	Montana (state)	All 56 counties	$1,297	$6,485	57,601,320

Source: USDA 2022 Census of Agriculture, Volume 1, Chapter 2, Table 8 for Montana — “Estimated market value of land and buildings, average per acre, 2022.” All 56 counties were read from the published table and reconcile exactly to the state totals of 24,266 farms and 57,601,320 acres, with no county suppressed. Rank is out of 56, where 1 is the cheapest. The census measures agricultural land and buildings on working farms and ranches, not asking prices for residential lots.

Why Montana Land Is Cheap and Montana Houses Are Not

The two numbers at the top of this page look like a contradiction. They are not. Four structural forces explain both, and each one is also a description of daily life in the places on this list.

• Most of Montana is rangeland. The census average is pulled down by millions of acres of dry grazing ground in the east. Big Horn, Garfield, Rosebud and Carter counties all average under $760 an acre, because land that grows grass for cattle, not crops or houses, cannot command more.
• The expensive counties are the scenic ones. Flathead ($9,225), Ravalli ($9,096), Mineral ($5,629), Lincoln ($4,690) and Gallatin ($4,069) are the five priciest in the state, all in the mountain west, around Kalispell, the Bitterroot, Missoula and Bozeman. That is where most of the newcomers went, and it is what the half-million-dollar median reflects.
• A house is expensive to build here. Short building seasons, long hauls for materials and labor, snow loads and frost-depth foundations put a high floor under any house, no matter how cheap the dirt is. That is why the land is only about 5% of the price in this batch.
• Distance is the real discount. The cheapest homes on this page sit on the Hi-Line and in eastern Montana, where the nearest full-size hospital or big-box store can be an hour or more away. You trade drive time for price, and the trade is worth knowing about before you fall for a photo.

What the Land Is Actually Worth Under These Houses

The range is wide, and it is the most useful thing on this page. At one end, the land under the Westby cottage and the Gildford house is worth less than 1% of the price: you are buying a building with a yard. At the other end, the 18.5-acre Helmville cabin (15.3%) and the 40-acre Circle ranch (12.1%) are the only two where the ground carries real weight. Not coincidentally, those are the two properties where the land itself can do work: graze animals, grow hay or be leased out.

Two caveats. The census figure measures working agricultural land and buildings, so it is a fair benchmark for open acreage and a poor one for a lot in town. And in the expensive valleys the benchmark itself is high: two acres in Ravalli County are worth $18,192 at the census rate, more than twice the value of 40 acres would be in many eastern counties at the same price. Read every listing against its own county, never against the state average.

The Montana Rules That Change What You Really Pay

Four state rules shape the true cost of owning homes with land for sale in Montana, and none of them shows up in a listing.

• Living there lowers the tax. Under the property tax reforms passed in 2025 (HB 231 and SB 542), Montana added a homestead rate from tax year 2026: a lower rate for a primary residence you live in at least seven months a year, and higher rates for second homes. A cabin bought as a getaway is taxed differently from the same cabin as your home.
• A domestic well needs no permit, but it does need paperwork. Groundwater use up to 35 gallons a minute and 10 acre-feet a year is exempt from a water-right permit, but you must file a Notice of Completion (Form 602) with the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation within 60 days of putting the well to use.
• Agricultural tax status starts at 20 acres. A parcel of 160 acres or more is classified as agricultural land outright. Between 20 and 160 acres it needs at least $1,500 a year in gross agricultural income, or it becomes non-qualified agricultural land taxed at seven times the agricultural rate. Below 20 acres, expect to be taxed as residential.
• Most of Montana is open range. On open range the landowner fences livestock out, not the rancher in, a rule that dates to the 1887 territorial legislature. Closed range applies inside incorporated towns and in herd districts created by county commissioners. If you don’t want a neighbor’s cows on your land, the fence is on you.

Late September 2026 Snapshot: Ten Real Listings

These ten homes were for sale in late September 2026. Together they cover almost every kind of Montana there is: the Pioneer Mountains in the southwest, the Bitterroot Valley, the Blackfoot Valley, the outskirts of Great Falls, three towns on the Hi-Line, the far northeast corner and the lower Yellowstone. Here are these homes with land for sale in Montana side by side.

#	Town	County	Price	Acres	Price / Acre	AHO Score
10	Polaris	Beaverhead	$395,000	2.35	$168,085	69/100
9	Circle	McCone	$350,000	40	$8,750	81/100
8	Great Falls	Cascade	$315,000	5	$63,000	66/100
7	Corvallis	Ravalli	$299,000	2	$149,500	68/100
6	Chester	Liberty	$250,000	11.54	$21,664	80/100
5	Chester	Liberty	$245,000	4.54	$53,965	73/100
4	Helmville	Powell	$215,000	18.5	$11,622	67/100
3	Gildford	Hill	$159,000	1.31	$121,374	69/100
2	Westby	Sheridan	$60,000	0.32	$187,500	61/100
1	Glendive	Dawson	$39,900	Leased lot	—	58/100

How the AHO Score Works

Every property gets a score out of 100, built from six weighted categories: Price and Value (25), Land and Usability (20), Condition (20), Practical Location (15), Charm (10) and Future Potential (10). Scores come only from what the listing and the photographs show. Where data is missing, the property is scored mid-band and the gap is stated rather than filled in with optimism. The full rubric is on our AHO Score methodology page.

Bands run 90-100 Exceptional, 80-89 Strong AHO Pick, 70-79 Solid Rural Deal, 60-69 Niche Opportunity and below 60 High-Caution. In this batch the highest score is 81, for the 40-acre rebuilt ranch near Circle, and the lowest is 58, for the Glendive home on a rented lot, which is exactly where a property that comes with no land should land in a list of homes with land. It is an editorial tool for comparison — not an appraisal, an inspection, or investment advice.

Published October 2026. Some of these listings will already be under contract or sold by the time you read this, and that is normal. The county figures, the state rules and the checklist at the bottom stay accurate regardless. We have not published a full Montana buying guide yet, so for the bigger picture start with the cheapest states to buy land, which shows where Montana sits against the rest of the country, and our guide to why cheap rural homes don’t sell. And if you want the next batch of homes with land for sale in Montana before it goes public, the form above is how you get it.

The ten properties

Ten homes, most expensive to least. Every one includes the county land benchmark, the price per acre, the price per square foot and an honest read on what you are actually buying.

#10 — Polaris, MT — $395,000 — 2.35 acres

A two-story mountain cabin in the Grasshopper Valley, with ski runs in view and a guest cabin out back

Two and a third acres at the foot of the Pioneer Mountains, with the Sawtooth range, the Grasshopper Valley and the runs of Maverick Mountain all in view from the deck. It is the most expensive home on this page and the only one you could ski from in the morning and soak in a hot spring the same afternoon.

Inside the Home

1,760 square feet, built in 1998, with three bedrooms and two baths. Knotty pine runs across the ceilings, and the bedrooms are walled in cedar shingle, like a lodge turned inside out. The main floor holds a long living room with picture windows on the valley and a pellet stove, a compact kitchen with wood cabinets, an island and a window over the sink, a dining area, a bedroom, a full bath and an office that has been used as a sleeping room.

An open wooden staircase climbs to a family room, two more bedrooms and a three-quarter bath under the slope of the roof. The family room opens onto a covered balcony with the best view on the property. Hardwood floors, ceiling fans, a wall furnace backing up the stove, laundry on the main level, and select furniture included. One upstairs bedroom has no closet.

Land and Outdoor Potential

2.35 acres of sagebrush and grass with a log split-rail fence, a gravel drive and an attached carport big enough for the toys. Out back, a fire pit is ringed with stump seats. There is a gambrel-roofed storage shed and a small dry cabin with its own wood stove that could become a guest cottage or a rec room. A golf-cart truckster comes with the sale.

The parcel is adjacent to public land, and the subdivision has access to Grasshopper Creek. Well and septic, metal roof, electricity on site. The HOA is $125 a year and covers road maintenance and snow removal, which matters at this elevation. This is a recreation and lifestyle parcel, not a farm.

About Polaris, Montana

Polaris is ranch country in Beaverhead County, the biggest cattle-producing county in Montana. Maverick Mountain ski area is a few minutes up the road and Elkhorn Hot Springs is about ten. Dillon, the county seat, is about fifty minutes away, with the groceries, the University of Montana Western and Barrett Hospital & HealthCare, a nationally ranked critical access hospital. Local paychecks come from ranching, the Forest Service, the BLM and the university. The honest trade-off: every grocery run is a real drive.

AHO Score: 69/100 — Niche Opportunity

Category	Score	Max
Price / Value	15	25
Land / Usability	12	20
Condition	17	20
Practical Location	8	15
Charm	9	10
Future Potential	8	10
Total	69	100

The math. $395,000 over 2.35 acres is $168,085 an acre, against a Beaverhead County benchmark of $1,883 — 41st cheapest of 56 counties. The land is worth about $4,425, or 1.1% of the price. Beaverhead County assesses the property at $402,924, slightly above the asking price, and taxes run about $1,522 a year. At $224 a square foot it is the second-priciest square foot on the list, after the Corvallis cabin. The views, the condition and the recreation carry the score; the 50-minute drive to Dillon holds it down.

Mark’s Verdict

The best-located recreation property in the batch, move-in ready, with a guest cabin and a ski hill as a neighbor. It is built for practicality, not polish, and storage is thin. It suits a buyer who wants a mountain base or a winter rental more than a working homestead.

👉 View listing on Zillow →

#9 — Circle, MT — $350,000 — 40 acres

Forty acres of pasture and cropland, four grain bins and a ranch house rebuilt since 2022

Forty acres of eastern Montana plains, split into paddocks, with a big ranch house that has been redone from the roof down. If you came to this page looking for real acreage under a real house at a real price, this is the one to study first.

Inside the Home

3,400 square feet, built in 1964, with five bedrooms and three full baths. Since 2022 the house has had a new roof and siding, ceiling insulation, paint, bedroom carpet, a new water heater, two 500-gallon propane tanks, and new power poles, a transformer and wiring to the house. The kitchen is new: white shaker cabinets, solid-surface counters, a gas range and stainless appliances under a deep red accent wall, with a window over the sink looking out at the fields.

Solid oak floors run through much of the house, and the living and dining rooms are paneled in real rosewood. One bathroom has a freestanding soaking tub under the window. Heat comes from propane, wood and electric. A full basement and an attached garage for two to four vehicles with insulated interior doors round it out. Starlink is connected, fiber is available, and cell service is reliable. The basement is unfinished, with steel jack posts supporting the beams.

Land and Outdoor Potential

About 39 to 40 acres of pasture and cropland, laid out as two paddocks of roughly 16 acres each plus about seven acres around the homesite. Four steel grain bins stand in a row in the yard, with a pole barn and sheds. There are two wells, one for the house and one for the yard and garden, and a septic system. Mule deer come right up to the lawn.

This is the strongest working parcel in the batch: enough ground for a few horses or cattle, hay, or a lease to a neighbor who farms. It sits about 1 3/4 miles off the pavement on all-weather gravel, and the school bus stops at the driveway.

About Circle, Montana

The house is about 13 miles west of Circle, roughly fifteen minutes. Circle is the McCone County seat, a small farm town with its own school and the McCone County Health Center, a small critical access hospital. Fort Peck Lake’s fishing and boating are about 30 miles away. Glendive, with the bigger stores and the 25-bed Glendive Medical Center, is about an hour. The economy is wheat and cattle. The honest trade-off: a city weekend means Billings, more than three hours away.

AHO Score: 81/100 — Strong AHO Pick

Category	Score	Max
Price / Value	19	25
Land / Usability	19	20
Condition	16	20
Practical Location	11	15
Charm	7	10
Future Potential	9	10
Total	81	100

The math. $350,000 over 40 acres is $8,750 an acre, against a McCone County benchmark of $1,055 — 14th cheapest of 56 counties. The land is worth about $42,200, or 12.1% of the price. McCone County assesses it at $319,290 and taxes run about $2,691 a year, the highest bill in the batch, on the biggest house and the most land. At $103 a square foot, with 40 acres included, it is one of the strongest values on the page. Land and price carry the score; the distance to a city and the raw basement hold it down.

Mark’s Verdict

The best overall value on this page: a rebuilt five-bedroom house on 40 working acres for less than the price of an average Montana home. Get a structural inspection of the basement before closing. It is for a buyer who wants a real place to raise animals or a family, and who is at peace with eastern Montana’s distances.

👉 View listing on Zillow →

#8 — Great Falls, MT — $315,000 — 5 acres

An 1892 farmhouse on five acres outside Great Falls, with its own apartment upstairs

Five acres of open prairie on the edge of Great Falls, with a line of mountains on the far horizon and a farmhouse built three years after Montana became a state. A wooden staircase climbs the side of the house to a second front door, and that door is the reason this property is interesting.

Inside the Home

1,973 square feet, built in 1892, with four bedrooms and two full baths. The main floor has wood floors, soft blue and sand-colored walls, a kitchen with white cabinets, granite-look counters, a glass tile backsplash and stainless appliances, and main-floor laundry. The upper floor sits under the steep roof, with slanted ceilings and bedrooms tucked into the angles.

That upper floor has its own small kitchen with a sink, a stove and cabinets, and with the exterior staircase it can work as a separate apartment. Three refrigerators convey with the house. Propane heat, a wall unit for cooling, and an unfinished basement for storage. The listing gives little detail on the systems, so plan on a thorough inspection.

Land and Outdoor Potential

Five acres of flat, open prairie with a gravel loop for parking and room for the garage this property is clearly missing, a barn or a large garden. The roof shingles look recent, and there is a deck off the back. Right now the yard holds a lot of vehicles and campers, so confirm in writing what leaves with the seller.

Water is a cistern, not a well: water is delivered and stored, which is a monthly cost and a lending question. Septic. There is no HOA, and the flat ground is easy to fence and build on.

About Great Falls, Montana

This is about fifteen minutes north of downtown Great Falls, one of Montana’s largest cities, on Interstate 15. Benefis Health System, the regional medical center for north-central Montana, is in town, and so is Malmstrom Air Force Base, home of the 341st Missile Wing and thousands of military and civilian jobs. Big-box stores, the Missouri River trail system and Great Falls International Airport are all within about twenty minutes. The honest trade-off: the wind here is real, and winter often arrives sideways.

AHO Score: 66/100 — Niche Opportunity

Category	Score	Max
Price / Value	13	25
Land / Usability	14	20
Condition	12	20
Practical Location	14	15
Charm	5	10
Future Potential	8	10
Total	66	100

The math. $315,000 over 5 acres is $63,000 an acre, against a Cascade County benchmark of $1,234 — 26th cheapest of 56 counties. The land is worth about $6,170, or 2.0% of the price. Taxes run about $977 a year. The county assesses the property at $177,200, well below the asking price, so the price leans on the location and the second unit rather than on the building’s book value. At $160 a square foot the house is mid-range for this batch. Location carries the score; the water setup, the cleanup and the thin listing detail hold it down.

Mark’s Verdict

The only property on the list that is a short drive from a real city, with a built-in way to share the costs. The cistern and the yard cleanup are the price of admission. It suits a buyer who wants acreage near Great Falls jobs and services, or a household that wants a second unit for family or a tenant.

👉 View listing on Zillow →

#7 — Corvallis, MT — $299,000 — 2 acres

A furnished 2020 cabin in the Bitterroot, with State of Montana land on three sides

Two acres on a sagebrush hillside above the Bitterroot Valley, surrounded on three sides by state land. Nobody can build next to you. It is the only property on this page in one of Montana’s two most expensive counties, and the only way into the Bitterroot at this price is a cabin that still needs finishing.

Inside the Home

956 square feet, built in 2020, with two bedrooms, one full bath and one half bath, sold fully furnished. The kitchen is a long galley with dark lower cabinets, a butcher-block island with bar stools, open shelving and a gas range. The living room is wrapped in windows on three sides. A wood stove heats the cabin, a full bath has a jetted tub under a window, and a stacked washer and dryer sit in a hallway lined with pantry shelves.

Dark timber beams cross ceilings that are still bare board between them. That, and the listing’s own description as a fixer-upper, is the honest read: the structure is new, and the finish work is yours. Dark wood floors, Western rugs, a log bed frame and everything else you see in the photos come with it.

Land and Outdoor Potential

Two sloping acres of sagebrush, pine and juniper with mountain and meadow views, a fenced garden, a stone patio, a fire pit and a lawn. A gravel drive climbs to the cabin past a carved wooden bear. Horses are allowed. Wildlife moves through the property constantly, and the state land around it gives a sense of space far beyond two acres.

Well, REC electricity and a septic system permitted as seasonal. If you intend to live here year-round, find out from Ravalli County what an upgrade would require before you offer. The seller is taking cash only.

About Corvallis, Montana

Corvallis is a small farm town in the middle of the Bitterroot Valley, about fifteen minutes from the cabin. Hamilton, the Ravalli County seat, is about twenty-five minutes, with Bitterroot Health’s Daly Hospital and the valley’s two big science employers, the GSK plant and Rocky Mountain Laboratories, a research lab of the National Institutes of Health. Missoula, with the University of Montana and the large regional hospitals, is about an hour north on Highway 93. The honest trade-off: late summer can bring wildfire smoke.

AHO Score: 68/100 — Niche Opportunity

Category	Score	Max
Price / Value	15	25
Land / Usability	11	20
Condition	13	20
Practical Location	13	15
Charm	9	10
Future Potential	7	10
Total	68	100

The math. $299,000 over 2 acres is $149,500 an acre, against a Ravalli County benchmark of $9,096 — 55th cheapest of 56 counties. The land is worth about $18,192, or 6.1% of the price. Ravalli County assesses it at $285,800, and taxes run about $997 a year. Ravalli is the 55th of Montana’s 56 counties for land value, so even two acres carry real weight here: the land is about 6.1% of the price, against 1.1% for the larger parcel in Polaris. At $313 a square foot this is the most expensive square foot on the page. The setting and the valley carry the score; the cash-only terms, the seasonal septic and the finish work hold it down.

Mark’s Verdict

The cheapest door into the Bitterroot in this batch, with neighbors you will never have to meet. It is cash only and unfinished, and the septic is seasonal. It suits a buyer with cash and tools who wants a hunting base or a getaway in Montana’s most sought-after valley.

👉 View listing on Zillow →

#6 — Chester, MT — $250,000 — 11.54 acres

Eleven and a half acres on the Hi-Line, with a refreshed farmhouse, a three-car garage and a full shop

11.54 acres on the high plains about nine miles south of Chester, on a paved highway, with a row of old shade trees around a white farmhouse and a big white garage-and-shop that is the real headliner. Lake Elwell is about ten minutes away.

Inside the Home

1,479 square feet, built in 1941, with two bedrooms and two full baths. The hardwood floors have been refinished to a warm honey red, and the living room has deep blue walls, a stove on a tile hearth and big windows onto the patio and yard. The kitchen is new: gray shaker cabinets, butcher-block counters, stainless range, refrigerator, dishwasher and microwave, over wood-look plank flooring.

A sun room with a wall of windows sits off one side, laundry is on the main floor, and an attached covered patio is set up for company. Upstairs, both bedrooms tuck under the roof with drawers built into the knee walls, and the primary is a suite with its own bath. Forced-air gas heat. The basement is unfinished.

Land and Outdoor Potential

11.54 acres of grass with a paved yard, a large white garage with three bays and a full shop behind them, with a concrete floor, workbenches and a wall of parts bins. There are more outbuildings beyond it, including a workshop and sheds. Horses are allowed, and there is room for a serious garden.

A tall radio tower stands right by the yard. Some buyers will never notice it again; others will. The listing does not specify the water source, so confirm it, along with septic, before you offer.

About Chester, Montana

Chester is the Liberty County seat, about twelve minutes north: a farm town of under 900 people in the heart of Montana’s Golden Triangle, some of the best wheat ground in the West. Logan Health Chester, a 25-bed critical access hospital, is in town, and it is the only trauma center on the Hi-Line between Malta and Conrad. Havre is about an hour east, with Northern Montana Hospital and the bigger stores, and Great Falls is under two hours. The honest trade-off: specialists and big shopping trips mean a drive.

AHO Score: 80/100 — Strong AHO Pick

Category	Score	Max
Price / Value	19	25
Land / Usability	17	20
Condition	17	20
Practical Location	12	15
Charm	7	10
Future Potential	8	10
Total	80	100

The math. $250,000 over 11.54 acres is $21,664 an acre, against a Liberty County benchmark of $1,237 — 27th cheapest of 56 counties. The land is worth about $14,275, or 5.7% of the price. Liberty County assesses it at $281,800, above the asking price, and taxes run about $2,000 a year. At $169 a square foot the house is mid-range; the value is in the shop and the acreage. Price, condition and land carry the score; the two-bedroom layout and the distance to a larger town hold it down.

Mark’s Verdict

One of the two best values on the page: a refreshed farmhouse, a real shop and room for horses, assessed above its price. Only two bedrooms, both upstairs, and confirm the water. It suits a couple who want a working place with a shop near a lake.

👉 View listing on Zillow →

#5 — Chester, MT — $245,000 — 4.54 acres

Two buildings, six bedrooms and three front doors in a shelterbelt ten minutes from Lake Elwell

4.54 acres wrapped in a shelterbelt, those long rows of trees farm families planted to break the prairie wind, on the same highway south of Chester. Inside the trees are two white buildings: a two-bedroom house and a four-bedroom duplex. On a clear day the Sweet Grass Hills show on the horizon.

Inside the Home

4,672 square feet across the two buildings, built in 1914 and updated through the decades, with six bedrooms and four baths in all. In one living room a river-rock fireplace rises from a round stone hearth under a skylight, beside a picture window full of fields. Knotty pine covers whole walls, with cabinets and drawers built into the paneling, and a glass-block wall with arched openings divides a dining nook from the living room.

One kitchen still has a vintage avocado-green range; another has wood cabinets and newer white appliances. One bathroom is pink tile from floor to ceiling. The bedrooms are painted soft sage, with big windows and wood closet doors. Forced-air propane heat, unfinished basement areas, high-speed internet available and separate meters for the units.

Land and Outdoor Potential

4.54 acres inside a mature shelterbelt of evergreens and hardwoods, with a double garage, a glass greenhouse, a poultry coop and a tall steel tank standing over the yard. Horses are allowed. From above, the property is a green island in open wheat country.

Water comes from a cistern and a community system, the propane tank is leased, and wastewater goes to septic. Ask for the monthly water and propane figures before you offer.

About Chester, Montana

This is the same stretch of Highway 223 south of Chester, so Logan Health Chester is still about twelve minutes away. The difference is the lake: Tiber Dam and Lake Elwell are about ten minutes from the door. The Bureau of Reclamation completed the dam on the Marias River in 1956, creating a reservoir that holds about 1.5 million acre-feet, with boat ramps, campgrounds and walleye fishing, and the Marias River itself below the dam. The honest trade-off: lake life here is mostly a summer story.

AHO Score: 73/100 — Solid Rural Deal

Category	Score	Max
Price / Value	20	25
Land / Usability	13	20
Condition	11	20
Practical Location	12	15
Charm	7	10
Future Potential	10	10
Total	73	100

The math. $245,000 over 4.54 acres is $53,965 an acre, against a Liberty County benchmark of $1,237 — 27th cheapest of 56 counties. The land is worth about $5,616, or 2.3% of the price. Taxes run about $1,099 a year for both buildings, and the county assessment is not shown in the listing. At $52 a square foot this is the cheapest square foot on the page among the properties that own their land. Price and future potential carry the score; the dated finishes and the cost of maintaining two old buildings hold it down.

Mark’s Verdict

The most house for the money on the list, set up for rental income or three generations on one property. Two older buildings mean two of everything to maintain, and plenty of mid-century finishes to update. It suits a buyer who wants income from day one, or a family that wants to live close without living together.

👉 View listing on Zillow →

#4 — Helmville, MT — $215,000 — 18.5 acres

An 18.5-acre mountain meadow ringed by pine and fir, with a four-bedroom cabin and a shop

Eighteen and a half acres in the hills south of Helmville, a meadow wrapped in timber with a long, low cabin, a green metal roof and an attached shop. It is the most land per dollar on this page outside Circle, and the most rustic house. Both facts matter.

Inside the Home

1,700 square feet, built in 1978, with four bedrooms and one bathroom. The main room opens up into a peaked ceiling crossed by log beams and posts, with wide plank floors running the length of the living area, a long dining table and a big kitchen. The kitchen has two stoves: a modern white range and an old-fashioned black cook stove with chrome trim. A wood stove heats the room, and sliding glass doors open to the deck and the meadow.

Down the hall, four bedrooms, two of them painted barn red, and a sleeping loft up a ladder under weathered plank ceilings. The bathroom has a flushing toilet connected to a septic tank, but there is no drain field, and the sellers mostly used the outhouse. They hauled water for weekend use and collected rainwater from the gutters into a tank under the cabin.

Land and Outdoor Potential

18.5 acres of gently rolling meadow and timber with a split-rail fence, a steel gate and long views over forested ridges. There is an attached shop with a workbench, a small red shed, a propane tank and an outhouse with an orange detour sign on the door. Horses are allowed. The access road is unimproved.

This is open range: the Granite Mountain Property Owners Association manages a grazing lease in the area and uses the money to fix the roads, so if you don’t want cows on your land, you fence them out. Plan and budget for a well and a drain field before this becomes a full-time home.

About Helmville, Montana

Helmville is a ranching settlement of a few dozen people in the Blackfoot Valley, where Nevada Creek meets the Blackfoot River. For fuel, groceries and Interstate 90, Drummond is about forty minutes. Deer Lodge, the Powell County seat, is a little over an hour, with Deer Lodge Medical Center and the Montana State Prison, one of the area’s large employers. Missoula and its hospitals are about an hour and a half away. The honest trade-off: the last miles are unimproved dirt, and in deep winter you may need more than a car to get in.

AHO Score: 67/100 — Niche Opportunity

Category	Score	Max
Price / Value	17	25
Land / Usability	18	20
Condition	9	20
Practical Location	6	15
Charm	9	10
Future Potential	8	10
Total	67	100

The math. $215,000 over 18.5 acres is $11,622 an acre, against a Powell County benchmark of $1,783 — 39th cheapest of 56 counties. The land is worth about $32,986, or 15.3% of the price. Powell County assesses it at $137,896, well below the asking price, and taxes are the lowest on the page among the owned-land properties at about $665 a year. At $126 a square foot the building is fairly priced for its size, but the land carries this one: 15.3% of the price, the highest land share on the list. Land and charm carry the score; the missing well and drain field and the winter access hold it down hard.

Mark’s Verdict

The most authentic homestead parcel on the page, and the one with the most work left to do. No drain field, no well, hauled water and an unimproved road make it a project and a lending challenge. It suits a self-reliant buyer with cash who wants timber, a meadow and real seclusion.

👉 View listing on Zillow →

#3 — Gildford, MT — $159,000 — 1.31 acres

A 1920 Cape Cod on 1.31 acres in a Hi-Line farm town, priced far below its county assessment

1.31 acres on the edge of Gildford, a small farm town on U.S. Highway 2 where the grain bins mark the end of the street. The house is a slate-blue Cape Cod with twin dormers, and it is much bigger inside than it looks.

Inside the Home

2,411 square feet, built in 1920, with three bedrooms and one bath. Arched doorways connect the downstairs rooms, which have fresh white paint and new wood-look plank flooring. The kitchen is white, with dark counters and a window over the sink. One bedroom has deep green walls over original hardwood, and there are built-in shelves under the stairs and main-floor laundry.

A bright red carpeted staircase with white spindles and a stained-glass hanging lamp climbs to the surprise of the house: one long, open room running nearly the full length of the roof, with sloped ceilings, a window at each end and closets built into the knee walls. Forced-air natural gas heat. Below, a full basement with block walls for storage and utilities.

Land and Outdoor Potential

1.31 acres with a detached double garage with an opener, a wooden chicken coop with a ramp, big old shade trees along one side and open ground for a garden. The lot is in town, so it is a large yard rather than acreage you can farm.

Town water is available with a $200 transfer fee at purchase. No utilities are currently on, and the seller has never lived in the house.

About Gildford, Montana

Gildford is a small farm town on U.S. Highway 2, with town water. For everything else, Havre is about thirty minutes east. That is where you will find Northern Montana Hospital, a 49-bed acute care hospital, and the area’s biggest employers: the BNSF Railway, the hospital itself and Montana State University-Northern. Havre also has the supermarkets, hardware stores and restaurants. The honest trade-off: for most errands, the drive to Havre becomes part of your routine.

AHO Score: 69/100 — Niche Opportunity

Category	Score	Max
Price / Value	21	25
Land / Usability	11	20
Condition	11	20
Practical Location	11	15
Charm	7	10
Future Potential	8	10
Total	69	100

The math. $159,000 over 1.31 acres is $121,374 an acre, against a Hill County benchmark of $1,066 — 16th cheapest of 56 counties. The land is worth about $1,396, or 0.9% of the price. Hill County assesses this property at $231,500, about 46% above the asking price, and taxes run about $1,056 a year. At $66 a square foot it is one of the cheapest square feet on the page. The land is worth well under 1% of the price, so this is a house purchase, not a land purchase. Price carries the score; the as-is terms and the unknowns of a vacant house hold it down.

Mark’s Verdict

The biggest house per dollar among the homes with land for sale in Montana on this page, with an assessment far above the price. It is a true as-is sale: utilities off, an inspection and a pre-approval letter required to offer, and no title policy paid by the seller. It suits a renovation-minded buyer who wants space and a big yard in a quiet Hi-Line town.

👉 View listing on Zillow →

#2 — Westby, MT — $60,000 — 0.32 acres

A tidy 1915 cottage under old trees, a mile from North Dakota

A third of an acre on a corner lot in Westby, in Montana’s far northeast corner, shaded by mature trees and fronted by a big wooden deck. At this price, it is the easiest way on this page to own a whole house outright.

Inside the Home

1,004 square feet in total: 704 on the main floor and 300 in the partially finished basement. Built in 1915, with one bedroom and one full bath. The kitchen and dining room run together in one long, bright room with white cabinets on one side and dark wood cabinets on the other. The living room has space for a couch and two recliners, and the bedroom sits just off the kitchen.

Central air, forced-air propane heat with an owned tank, carpet and linoleum floors, and window treatments throughout. The basement holds the laundry and a bonus room with space for a guest bed. Public sewer, community water, trash pickup and fiber optic internet available.

Land and Outdoor Potential

0.32 acres, 100 by 140 feet, on a corner, with an established private yard, mature trees, a front deck, a storage shed and plenty of off-street parking for a truck, a boat or a camper.

This is a town lot, not a homestead: there is no room for livestock or a hayfield. It is a home with a yard.

About Westby, Montana

Westby sits in Sheridan County, about a mile from the North Dakota line, in prairie pothole country that draws pheasant and waterfowl hunters every fall. Crosby, North Dakota, is about fifteen minutes east, with groceries and a small hospital. Plentywood, the county seat, is about thirty minutes west, with Sheridan Memorial Hospital, a critical access hospital. Williston, hub of the Bakken oil field, is about an hour and fifteen minutes, and plenty of local paychecks come from there. The honest trade-off: your nearest big town is in another state.

AHO Score: 61/100 — Niche Opportunity

Category	Score	Max
Price / Value	18	25
Land / Usability	6	20
Condition	15	20
Practical Location	9	15
Charm	7	10
Future Potential	6	10
Total	61	100

The math. $60,000 over 0.32 acres is $187,500 an acre, against a Sheridan County benchmark of $1,554 — 35th cheapest of 56 counties. The land is worth about $497, or 0.8% of the price. The listing’s annual tax figure is clearly a data error, so it is not quoted here; ask the county treasurer for the real bill. The county assessment is $41,169. At $60 a square foot it is cheap by any measure, and the land is worth less than 1% of the price. Price and condition carry the score; the size of the house and the lot hold it down.

Mark’s Verdict

A clean, well-kept cottage at a price that works as employee housing, a hunting base or a long-term rental. One bedroom and a third of an acre is not a homestead. It suits a buyer who wants a low-cost foothold in hunting and oil country, or a first home they can own without a mortgage.

👉 View listing on Zillow →

#1 — Glendive, MT — $39,900 — leased lot

An updated three-bedroom home in Glendive for $39,900, on a rented lot

A quiet dead-end street near Jefferson School in Glendive, an extra-large fenced yard and an updated three-bedroom, two-bath home for $39,900. It is the cheapest home on this page, and it is the one that does not come with land: you buy the house, not the ground under it.

Inside the Home

1,206 square feet, a 1981 Gallatin manufactured home that has been updated with care. Hard-surface flooring throughout, with luxury vinyl plank in the kitchen, and a professionally painted interior. The kitchen has dark wood cabinets, a stainless gas range, a built-in microwave and a dishwasher. The dining area has a built-in hutch, and a Broyhill corner curio cabinet, the dining table with six chairs, the washer and the dryer are all included.

The primary suite has its own bath with a large soaking tub and a separate shower, and both other bedrooms have walk-in closets. The main bath was updated with a new full-size shower, new toilets, sink and fan. A 2020 roof, central air, new window treatments, a new screened back door, Ring security cameras and an enclosed porch wired for electricity.

Land and Outdoor Potential

The home sits on a rented lot of about 8,276 square feet. Lot rent is $500 a month, and it includes use of the extra-large fenced yard with a sprinkler system, off-street gravel parking and a garden shed.

Because the land is leased, there is no land value to build equity in, the rent can change over time, and lenders treat a home on rented ground differently from a house on its own lot, often as a personal property loan at a higher rate. Read the lot lease before anything else.

About Glendive, Montana

Glendive is the Dawson County seat, a town of about 5,000 on the Yellowstone River and Interstate 94. Glendive Medical Center, a 25-bed critical access hospital with full surgical services, is minutes away. The railroad, the hospital, the schools and Dawson Community College carry the local economy, and on the southeast edge of town is Makoshika, Montana’s largest state park, with more than 11,000 acres of badlands where a triceratops skull was found. The honest trade-off: Billings is more than three hours west.

AHO Score: 58/100 — High-Caution

Category	Score	Max
Price / Value	17	25
Land / Usability	2	20
Condition	16	20
Practical Location	14	15
Charm	4	10
Future Potential	5	10
Total	58	100

The math. Dawson County farmland averages $981 an acre, the 10th cheapest of 56 counties, but none of it comes with this home. There is no land in the price, so the price-per-acre math does not apply. Taxes on the home run about $123 a year. Bought outright, the monthly housing cost is close to the $500 lot rent, which makes this the lowest-cost way on the page to live in a Montana county seat. Condition and location carry the score; the lack of owned land holds it down, by design.

Mark’s Verdict

Not a home with land, and it is scored that way. It is a clean, updated three-bedroom in a full-service town for less than a new pickup truck, and a way to get to Montana, learn the state and keep your savings working until the right acreage appears. It suits a buyer on a tight budget who can pay cash and has read the lease.

👉 View listing on Zillow →

Planning a move or a purchase in Montana? Our guide to how to buy land in Montana has the USDA value of an acre in all 56 counties and the six checks to run before you buy. Before you make an offer, read Montana water rights, because the water passes with the deed and the paperwork has deadlines, and moving to Montana for taxes, winter and your first 60 days.

Final Thoughts on Homes With Land for Sale in Montana

Three things came out of this batch that were not obvious before the numbers were on the table. The first is where the value clustered. The two highest scores went to the 40 acres near Circle (81) and the 11.5 acres with a shop near Chester (80), both in counties with farmland well below the state average of $1,297 an acre, and both on the plains rather than in the mountains. The cheap side of Montana is the eastern and northern side, and that is where the room to grow was.

The second is that price per acre and price per square foot tell opposite stories. Circle has the cheapest acre on the list at $8,750 and one of the cheapest square feet at $103. Corvallis has the most expensive square foot at $313, and Westby has the most expensive acre on paper at $187,500, for a cottage that costs $60,000. Neither number means anything alone. Read them together, and always against the county benchmark.

The third is that the best value was not the cheapest property. The $39,900 home in Glendive is a smart way into the state, but it comes with no land at all. The $350,000 ranch near Circle delivers 40 working acres and a rebuilt five-bedroom house for about two-thirds of the price of a typical Montana home. When you shop homes with land for sale in Montana, the question is never just what it costs. It is what the house and the ground let you do. Go stand on it before you decide.

A Checklist for Homes With Land for Sale in Montana

Before you make an offer on any of the homes with land for sale in Montana on this page, or on any other, work through this list with the county and the state, not with the listing.

1. Find the water first. Well, cistern, community system or hauled water are four different costs and four different lending conversations. If you drill a new domestic well, file Form 602 with the DNRC within 60 days of using it.
2. Ask the county sanitarian about the septic. Confirm the permit, the drain field and whether the system is approved for year-round use. Two properties in this batch have a seasonal permit or no drain field.
3. File for the homestead rate. If the house will be your primary residence for at least seven months a year, ask the Department of Revenue how to qualify for the lower 2026 homestead rate.
4. Know your acreage class. Under 20 acres you will usually be taxed as residential; between 20 and 160 acres you need $1,500 a year in agricultural income to keep the agricultural rate.
5. Check open range and herd districts. Outside towns and herd districts, keeping a neighbor’s livestock off your land is your job and your fence.
6. Drive the road in winter. Ask who plows it, whether an HOA or owners association maintains it, and whether it is passable by car in January.
7. Price the wildfire and wind exposure. Get an insurance quote before the offer, especially in the western valleys and on any property with heavy timber around the house.
8. Read any lot lease or covenant in full. A rented lot, an owners association or a grazing lease changes your monthly cost and what you can do with the land.

Common Questions About Homes With Land for Sale in Montana

You Might Also Like

• The Cheapest States to Buy Land — where Montana’s land prices sit against the rest of the country.
• Best States to Homestead — the AHO Homestead Index, state by state.
• Why Cheap Rural Homes Don’t Sell — the hidden reasons a low price sits on the market.
• How the AHO Score Works — the full rubric behind every score on this page.
• The Rural Property Buyer’s Field Guide — the free nine-page checklist for every walkthrough.