This Texas City Similar to Billings Has WAY Cheaper Housing

That's it. We're moving to Texas.

Do you work for a company with locations all over the United States? Do you ever look at the job openings available in places other than Montana within your company? We do too, mainly just for fun. One of our Townsquare Media employees in Idaho shared some photos of her recent visit to our company's radio station cluster in Midland, TX.

My coworker and I jealously gazed at the photos of the beautiful broadcast facility in Texas. Their offices have a gym, a pool table, a nice lounge area for guests and clients, crisp and clean state-of-the-art broadcast studios, and a small stage for musical artist guest performances. It looks awesome.

Texans move to Montana all the time. Does it go both ways?

We love to complain about all those gosh darn out-of-staters moving to Montana, but not all Montanans stick around here forever either. Sometimes we move to another state, for a variety of reasons. According to 2023 census data, Texas is the 5th most popular state for Montanans who relocate, after Washington, California, Colorado, and Idaho.

Midland is a petroleum town, somewhat similar to Billings.

We started digging into city data, comparing Billings to Midland, TX. We're similar in population, with Midland at around 135,000 vs. Billings at 120,000'ish. Midland is in the heart of Texas oil country and Billings/Laurel/Lockwood is home to three petroleum refineries. Midland also has a large ranching economy, similar to the Billings area.

Neither city has extraordinary scenery, although Billings might edge out Midland, simply because the panhandle of Texas is extremely flat. We might not have majestic Montana mountains nearby in Billings, but at least we have some hills and the Rimrocks with the Beartooths in the distance. The terrain in Midland, TX offers very little elevation change.

Get our free mobile app

Homes in Midland Texas are substantially more affordable than in Billings.

Looking at various real estate listings in Midland, we found some nice houses for under $300,000. The nicely updated 3 bed/2 bath, 1,500 sq foot, brick ranch-style home seen above is listed for just $269,00. A similar home in Billings will easily cost $50-$100K more.

Would you ever consider moving to Texas? Are you a Texas transplant to Montana? Share your thoughts. Chat on our Mobile App, drop a comment on social media, or shoot me an email: Michael.Foth@Townsquaremedia.com