Four Montana Towns Ranked Among Best For New Businesses

Why Montana Could Be A Great Place To Launch A Business

I’ve never started a business myself, but I can only imagine the kind of stress and anxiety that comes with it.

That said, if you’ve been thinking about starting one, Montana might actually be one of the best places to do it.

How WalletHub Ranked The Best Small Cities

It turns out we’ve got quite a few towns being called some of the best in the country for launching new businesses.

WalletHub looked at small towns all across America, using 18 different factors like business environment, costs, and access to resources.

And Montana showed up in a big way. Four cities made the list, three of them in the top 100, and one cracked the top five at number four.

Montana Cities Make A Strong Showing In Rankings

Bozeman, for all the issues people like to point out, is actually a really strong spot to open a business. It ranked number two overall for business environment, which says a lot about how successful new businesses have been there lately. But it’s not the only Montana city getting some love.

Helena came in at number 53, Missoula at 84, and further down the list you’ll find Great Falls at 352. That might sound low at first, but the rankings go all the way to 1,334, so Great Falls still lands on the better side of things.

While this report shows where businesses are finding success, there’s also the other side of that story. In 2026, we’re seeing some businesses close their doors too. Scroll through the gallery below to see which ones have already announced they’ll be shutting down this year.