Is Livingston Still Affordable or Has the Secret Gotten Out?

The honest answer splits into two questions, and most of what gets written about this town only answers the easy one.

Asking whether Livingston is still affordable usually means one of two things. Either you are watching from out of state and wondering if the window has closed, or you live and work here and the listings stopped making sense years ago. Here is what the town actually costs in mid-2026, measured against real incomes and real closed sales, and where the negotiating room actually sits.

What does a home in Livingston actually cost in mid-2026?

In July 2026, Livingston's median sold price was $505,000 across 29 closed sales, with a median of 44 days on market and homes selling at 93.6 percent of list price, per Big Sky Country MLS data published by Bozeman Real Estate Group. The same report's June edition showed a similar $512,750. Call it a $500,000 town, with negotiating room.

A budget at that median generally buys an in-town home, not acreage. Around $500,000 in Livingston proper has recently meant roughly 1,100 to 2,300 square feet on a city lot, and a full breakdown of what $500,000 actually buys in Park County is its own article. Acreage in Paradise Valley or the Shields Valley starts a different conversation at a different number.

One caution before you quote any Livingston statistic at a dinner party: recent months in this market have closed anywhere from 18 to 29 sales. When the sample is that small, a single month's median can swing tens of thousands of dollars because of which five houses happened to close. Read three-month levels, dated, rather than any single month's percentage change. That mechanism matters for everything else in this article.

When did the secret actually get out?

Between December 2019 and December 2020, Park County's single-family median sales price rose 40.1 percent, from $282,753 to $396,000, and by June 2021 the year-to-date median had climbed further to $425,250, per the 2021 Park County Housing Needs Assessment produced by HRDC and the Park County Community Foundation. The secret got out in those eighteen months. Everything since has been the town adjusting to that repricing.

The assessment, released in November 2021 and covered at the time by Yellowstone Public Radio, described low vacancy, thin inventory, and a mortgage that already required a six-figure income. That was five years ago. The pattern behind it shows up clearly in the state's own numbers: the Montana Department of Labor and Industry's Park County profile shows the county gained about 1,000 more residents than it lost between 2020 and 2023, roughly 6 percent of its population, and 15.7 percent of workers here now work from home, well above the statewide 10.6 percent.

Translate that: people arrived during the pandemic carrying jobs and equity from somewhere else, and a meaningful share never had to price their housing against a Livingston paycheck. A town of under 10,000 people sitting an hour from a year-round entrance to Yellowstone National Park did not stay quiet once remote work made it practical. Livingston has been drawing writers, artists, and railroad workers for a century, a history the Livingston Area Chamber of Commerce trades on with good reason. What changed in 2020 was not the town's appeal. It was who could act on it.

Can local incomes still buy a Livingston home?

For households earning near the county median, mostly no, and that is the cleanest way to say the secret is out. Park County's median household income is $70,047, per the U.S. Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey five-year estimates. Run through the mortgage math below, that income supports a purchase near $283,000. The median Livingston home sold for $505,000 in July.

Run the arithmetic in the open. The Freddie Mac weekly survey put the average 30-year fixed rate at 6.65 percent as of August 20, 2026, and rates move weekly, so run your own math against a current quote. Put 10 percent down on the $505,000 median and the $454,500 loan costs about $2,918 a month in principal and interest. Keeping that payment at 28 percent of gross income takes roughly $125,000 a year. These are modeled figures, principal and interest only, before property taxes and insurance, and lenders actually qualify borrowers on total debt loads and program rules, so your number will differ. But the shape of the gap does not move: the income Livingston's median home requires is nearly double the income the median Park County household earns. (The income figure is countywide and the price is city-level, so treat the pairing as directional.)

Now the detail that should stop you for a second. Run the same model backward from $70,047 and it supports a purchase of about $283,000. Park County's single-family median in December 2019 was $282,753. On paper, the median local household can afford almost exactly the house it could have bought six years ago, except that house now costs $505,000. That is what a market repricing around outside money looks like from the inside.

The county's income data carries the same fingerprint. Average household income here was $94,904 in 2022, eighth highest of Montana's 56 counties per the state labor department profile, while the median sits at $70,047 and the county's average annual wage was $51,800 in 2023. When the average runs that far ahead of the median, it means a layer of high earners is pulling it up, which is precisely what in-migration of remote workers and retirees does. Meanwhile the largest employment sector in the county is accommodation and food services, 1,710 jobs, and the same state profile puts food, accommodations, and recreation at 28 percent of all jobs in the county, double the state average. The people who staff the town's actual economy are the people the current price level excludes. How Montana's affordability compares to where buyers are arriving from is a separate question with a more comfortable answer, and both things are true at once.

How does Livingston compare to Bozeman and Belgrade right now?

Livingston's July 2026 median of $505,000 sits $248,500 under Bozeman's $753,500 and about $95,000 under Belgrade's $599,900, per the same MLS reporting. Relative to its neighbors across the pass, Livingston is still the affordable end of the corridor. Relative to its own residents' incomes, it is not. Both comparisons are honest; they just answer different questions.

The corridor is not moving as one market. Belgrade rose while Livingston and Bozeman fell, and Belgrade's homes still sell essentially at asking while Livingston sellers are conceding more than 6 percent. For the full decision between the two anchor towns, the Livingston versus Bozeman comparison covers it, and if a Bozeman paycheck is funding a Livingston address, read the honest accounting of what the Bozeman Pass commute really involves before you commit to doing it every winter morning.

If the secret is out, why are prices soft in 2026?

July's median was 15.1 percent below July 2025, days on market more than doubled from 17 to 44, and 22 of 29 sales closed under asking. Small monthly samples exaggerate the percentage, and one July proves nothing on its own. But the direction is consistent across the corridor: demand has cooled, listings sit, and sellers are conceding.

The mechanism is not mysterious. A market that repriced itself for pandemic-era demand now has to clear at a 6.65 percent mortgage rate, and the marginal buyer that price level depends on, someone bringing income or equity from a stronger market, has thinned out. Bozeman fell 12.7 percent over the same twelve months, so this is a regional cooling, not a Livingston-specific problem. Keep it in proportion: even after the pullback, Livingston's July median stands nearly 80 percent above the county's December 2019 single-family median. The comparison mixes city and county figures and different property mixes, so treat it as directional, but the point survives any reasonable adjustment. Prices stepped back from the peak. They did not go home.

Softness is not a crash, and nothing here predicts one. What the 2026 numbers describe is a standoff: sellers anchored to 2022 memories, buyers doing the payment math above, and 44 days of silence in between.

What should you do with this market if you are buying?

Treat 2026 as the closest thing to a buyer-leaning market Livingston has offered since 2019. Three quarters of July's sales closed below list, sellers are averaging 93.6 percent of asking, and a house that sits six weeks has an owner who is listening. That is negotiating room nobody had here in 2021, when homes went in days.

Practically, this week, do one thing: have your agent pull every closed sale inside Livingston city limits from the last 90 days and price your offer against those, not against active listings. Asking prices in this town still carry 2022 wishes; closed sales carry 2026 facts. The gap between the two is your negotiation. Keep your inspection and appraisal contingencies, because a market with 44 days on market generally does not require you to waive anything (a sharply priced house can still draw competing offers), and an appraisal contingency in a falling month protects you from paying a stale price.

One tax fact belongs in every out-of-state buyer's math. For tax year 2026, Montana taxes residential property that is not enrolled as a qualifying homestead or long-term rental at a flat 1.9 percent statewide rate, a category that covers most second homes and short-term rentals, while enrolled properties are taxed on a graduated schedule that starts at 0.76 percent on the first $378,000 of market value and only reaches that same 1.9 percent on value above $1,512,000, per the Montana Department of Revenue's 2026 property tax information. Those are statewide rate brackets, not Park County rates, and they produce your taxable value rather than your bill; local mill levies are applied on top. The point survives the fine print: at Livingston prices, the non-enrolled rate runs roughly two and a half times the entry homestead rate. If the Livingston house will not be your primary residence and will not qualify for enrollment, your carrying cost at this price level runs meaningfully higher than an enrolled neighbor's. The full picture is in the guide to Montana property taxes before you buy, and rules and enrollment deadlines change year to year, so confirm the current ones with the Department of Revenue rather than assuming.

What if the math still does not work?

Montana Housing, the state's housing finance agency, runs mortgage programs with down payment and closing cost assistance through participating lenders statewide, with income and purchase price limits published by county and program that change periodically. Some of its programs are limited to first-time buyers or specific household situations, and a program screen costs nothing and takes one phone call to any participating lender. For a household earning near the county median, it is the difference worth checking before concluding the town is closed to you.

Be clear-eyed about what assistance can and cannot do. Down payment help solves the savings problem, not the payment problem, and program purchase price limits may sit below Livingston's median, which pushes qualifying buyers toward the segment of inventory under the median rather than the middle of it. That segment exists, it is just competitive. The honest version of this section is that state programs widen the door without moving the wall. The wall is the price level, and in 2026 the price level is the thing drifting in your direction.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a home in Livingston, Montana cost in 2026?

Livingston's median sold price was $505,000 in July 2026, based on 29 closed sales reported through Big Sky Country MLS, with June 2026 at a similar $512,750. Homes spent a median of 44 days on market and sold at 93.6 percent of list price. Monthly medians swing in a market this small, so read multi-month levels.

Is Livingston cheaper than Bozeman?

Yes, substantially. Livingston's July 2026 median of $505,000 ran $248,500 below Bozeman's $753,500 and about $95,000 below Belgrade's $599,900. Livingston remains the lowest-priced of the three corridor markets, though the gap narrows or widens month to month as each market's small sample of sales shifts.

How much income do you need to buy a median-priced Livingston home?

Roughly $125,000 a year, modeled at July 2026's $505,000 median with 10 percent down, a 6.65 percent 30-year rate, and principal and interest capped at 28 percent of gross income. Property taxes and insurance add more. Park County's median household income is $70,047, which is the core of the affordability gap.

Is Livingston a buyer's market in 2026?

It leans that way. In July 2026, 22 of 29 sales closed below asking, sellers averaged 93.6 percent of list price, and days on market more than doubled year over year to 44. The local market report characterized conditions as mostly neutral, but buyers hold more negotiating room than at any point since 2019.

Why did Livingston home prices rise so fast after 2019?

Park County's single-family median rose 40.1 percent between December 2019 and December 2020, from $282,753 to $396,000, and the year-to-date median reached $425,250 by June 2021, per the 2021 Park County Housing Needs Assessment. Pandemic-era in-migration drove it, and remote work let many arrivals buy on outside incomes.

Do second-home buyers pay higher property taxes in Park County?

Usually, yes. For tax year 2026, Montana taxes residential property not enrolled as a qualifying homestead or long-term rental at a flat 1.9 percent statewide rate, which covers most second homes and short-term rentals. Enrolled properties pay graduated rates from 0.76 percent, reaching 1.9 percent only above $1,512,000 of value. Confirm current rules and deadlines with the Montana Department of Revenue.

What help exists for first-time buyers in Montana?

Montana Housing, part of the Department of Commerce, offers mortgage loans with down payment and closing cost assistance through participating lenders statewide, plus homebuyer education. Programs carry income and purchase price limits that change periodically, so ask a participating lender to screen you against current limits before ruling anything out.

---

This article is general information, not legal, tax, or accounting advice. Stacy Bennin Real Estate is not a law firm or an accounting firm, and nothing here should be treated as advice from one. Laws, tax rules, and programs change, and they vary by state and by situation. Before acting on anything covered here, consult a licensed attorney and/or a certified public accountant in your state for current guidance on your specific circumstances.

---

The secret got out in 2020, and no article can put it back. What is left is more interesting: a town priced for outside demand, visibly cooling, where prepared buyers finally have room to work. If you are weighing Livingston and want the closed-sale numbers behind any house you are watching, reach out. Running that math is most of what a good broker is for.

Stacy Bennin is a licensed real estate broker in Montana, affiliated with Legacy Lands Real Estate in Paradise Valley. She helps buyers and sellers across Park County and southwest Montana find property that fits their needs, and stays current on AI and emerging technology so her clients benefit from where real estate is headed, not just where it has been. Reach her at stacybennin.com or (406) 224-3267.