Montanans are having ongoing challenges affording housing, healthcare, gas and groceries, according to a new Montana Free Press-Eagleton poll of registered voters conducted in late August and early September.
Ahead of November’s general election, about 80% of respondents said the cost of living and affordability are very important in helping them decide who to vote for. That number was slightly higher among Democrats at 86% and among independents at 85%. About 71% of Republicans said it was very important.
Heather Grenier, the CEO of HRDC in Bozeman, an organization that provides food, housing, transportation, childcare and energy assistance to community members, told MTFP that many Montanans are cost-burdened, meaning their monthly housing cost is more than 30% of their income.
“When people are already cost-burdened just for housing, any of these other categories that spike up, whether that’s fuel costs, healthcare costs or utility costs, there’s just no room for families to absorb that,” she said. “If this increase is sustained, it can have some really devastating effects.”
The percentage of people reporting some level of difficulty affording housing, groceries and gas all saw a statistically significant increase from late April and early May when a similar MTFP-Eagleton poll question was conducted.
In the most recent poll, more than half of respondents reported having some difficulty affording rent or mortgage payments, with respondents ages 18 to 44 reporting the most difficulty of any age range.
Grenier said while more housing is being added to the market, much of it is unaffordable and will take time to be absorbed, freeing up less expensive units.
“There’s more availability, but we haven’t seen any give on rent yet,” Grenier said. “I think housing is going to stay up there pretty consistently as what people are struggling with for a while.”
Grenier also said people may put off other expenses, such as medical care, when their budgets are tight. About two-thirds of respondents in the poll reported some difficulty affording healthcare and medical costs, about the same as in the spring.
Meanwhile, gas prices skyrocketed in March following the start of the war in Iran. While prices dipped in June, they increased again this summer, according to GasBuddy data. In the poll, about 67% of respondents reported some level of difficulty affording gas or other transportation costs, up from 61% in the spring.
Montanans are also struggling to afford other aspects of their budget. A majority of respondents, 63%, reported at least some difficulty affording groceries and other food, up from 57% in the spring. Nearly a quarter, 22%, said affording groceries was very difficult. Grenier said that when costs go up, people show up first at the HRDC’s food bank and Fork and Spoon, its pay-what-you-can restaurant.
“What we see first is, ‘I have to pay my gas bill because I have to get to work. If I can’t get to work, I can’t pay rent, and I lose housing,’” she said. “At the tipping point, the first thing to go is the food budget and healthcare, and it trickles down from there.”
Fewer respondents, about half, reported difficulty affording utility bills like electricity or water. But Grenier said the HRDC anticipates high demand for its utility assistance program when applications open Oct. 1. Along with other rising costs, many residents have also been hit by increased NorthWestern Energy rates, she said.
“As we head into winter with the rates higher, the seasonal bump is going to pinch folks tight, and I imagine we’ll see a spike,” Grenier said.
While 70% of respondents said education costs, including student loans, were not applicable to them or were not difficult to afford, about 42% of those aged 18 to 44 reported at least some difficulty.
Even more people, 86%, reported no childcare costs or no challenge affording them. But about 22% of 18- to 44-year-olds reported some level of difficulty affording childcare.
The increase in cost of living has particularly affected seniors and young adults, 18- to 24-year-olds, Grenier said. Both groups are often single-income households less able to absorb cost increases, she said.
Grenier said it’s not that people aren’t working, but, in the Gallatin Valley, for example, about a third of the industry is in retail and hospitality, which are typically lower-wage jobs.
“There’s inequality between what things cost and what they have room in their budget to pay for,” she said.
The HRDC hopes to destigmatize and normalize the use of resources like the food bank, especially in a high-cost area like the Gallatin Valley, Grenier said.
“Helping people recognize first and foremost that food support is a practical way to help alleviate some pressure on their monthly budget, that’s exactly why we’re here,” she said.
This Montana Insights Poll surveyed registered voters in Montana who were invited by text message to complete an online survey. Data was collected from Aug. 27, 2026, to Sept. 7, 2026. Participants were recruited using a probability-based method, meaning they were randomly drawn from the state’s registered voter file so every voter had a known chance of being invited. The results were weighted during analysis to reflect the demographics of Montana’s registered voters. The survey’s overall margin of error is +/- 4.2%. The full methodology is available to review here.
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