Montana earned its “Treasure State” name from what was under our work boots and in our fields – copper, coal, oil, gas, timber, wheat, barley, and other resources that built jobs, communities, and our tax base. For generations, mines, mills, farms, and raw materials were the backbone of our economy.
Over the last few decades, more of our “treasure” has shifted above ground. The value of our land, scenery, small towns, and the draw for retirees and tourists now drives a bigger share of our economy. Real estate, services, and tourism carry more of the load, while mining and extraction have shrunk. Today, our leisure and tourism sectors are larger than mining in overall economic output.
Back in 1995, Montana’s major industries were fairly similar in size. Mining – especially when you add in agriculture – was a key driver of jobs and stability. Now, real estate dominates, and leisure has passed mining. Adjusted for inflation, real estate’s contribution to our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased about fivefold – from around $2 billion in 1995 to nearly $10 billion in 2025. It’s the clear leader. By contrast, mining and utilities show no net growth, peaking in the mid-2000s before declining, and are now roughly one-third the size of real estate.
Other sectors have expanded too: trade, business services, healthcare, construction, education, and government all reflect a more people- and service-driven economy. We’ve moved from resource extraction to an economy fueled more by tourism, retirees, and land sales. This has consequences for businesses and families, especially in resource-dependent areas where traditional jobs sustained generations.
GDP isn’t the same as jobs. A $30 million home sale boosts economic output, but it doesn’t create hundreds of paychecks the way a mine once did. Real estate leads GDP through high-dollar sales, yet it employs relatively few people. Most Montanans work in healthcare, education, retail, construction, and government. That’s a core tension: real estate is big money on paper, but the jobs don’t always match.
Montana is now a prime spot for seniors and tourists. Growth in healthcare and leisure serves an aging population and visitors seeking hunting, fishing, and recreation. Real estate surges with subdivisions and high-end homes. We’re still selling our treasures – but now it’s often homes on the land, sold to out-of-state retirees or wealthy buyers.
Once built, these homes can lead new owners to oppose nearby logging, mining, or energy projects, putting added pressure on working lands and resource jobs. It creates a mismatch: wealth from land sales and tourism, but many of the available jobs are service work that does not pay like old mill or mine work. As we draw more outsiders, we have to consider what this does to year-round residents, including housing affordability for young Montanans who want to stay in the communities where they grew up.
Our tax system was not designed for these shifts. It was built for a resource-heavy economy with taxes on mining, utilities, and equipment to spread the load. As the economy has changed, the tax burden has followed the rising value of homes and land. Residential property is now the backbone.
In 2015, residential property made up 62% of assessed value statewide. By 2025, it’s 78.8%. High-value homes (over $1.5 million) grew from 3% to 13.2% of that value. About 33.8% of residential taxable value is billed to out-of-state addresses, meaning much of our tax base now comes from people whose primary home is somewhere else and who likely do not pay income tax in Montana.
Taxable value has shifted geographically too. Madison County, with about 9,500 people, now exceeds Yellowstone County (170,000 residents) in taxable value. Scenic, vacation-home areas carry more weight than our largest population centers.
Meanwhile, agriculture, forestry, and business equipment are a shrinking share. We’re tilting from industry taxes to residential ones, increasing pressure on homeowners.
This shift drove recent legislation like House Bill 231 and Senate Bill 542, which introduced tiered rates – lower for most Montana working homeowners. The goal is to better align taxes with today’s economy, not the one we had 30 years ago.
Challenges persist. We still have to fund schools, roads, and public safety in an economy that leans more on tourism and real estate than on traditional industries. Over-relying on housing taxes hits working Montanans hardest, especially in rural, resource-based communities.
I’ve always supported natural resource jobs and working lands. Montana remains the Treasure State, but our treasures are evolving from minerals to real estate and tourism. This isn’t inherently good or bad – it’s reality. Our legislative task is to adopt policies so this new economy works for the people who actually live here: from ranchers with generational roots to retirees in our mountains. These tax choices aren’t easy – everyone demands good services and wants lower taxes, and the big players have high-paid lobbyists – but if Montana is to stay a place where our kids can live and work, we need representatives with the backbone to put everyday Montanans first and realign our tax system and spending caps to fit the Montana of today, not the Montana of 30 years ago.
Representative Llew Jones, R-Conrad, is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.