Curated city comparison

Lakeville vs Missoula: housing and local cost comparison

Lakeville, MN carries the higher modeled overall cost index (130 vs 129; roughly 1 points). Missoula, MT is the lower-index side of this pair.

Cost indexLakeville 130 · Missoula 129100 = U.S. baseline, modeled index
Typical home value$485,324 vs $568,490Committed home-value source per city
Monthly rent input$2,136/mo vs $1,537/moCommitted rent source per city
Local-median pressureTight vs TightRenting at each city’s own median income
What actually differs

Where the gap shows up.

Lakeville, MN carries the higher modeled overall cost index (130 vs 129; roughly 1 points). Missoula, MT is the lower-index side of this pair.

Typical home value is $485,324 in Lakeville, MN and $568,490 in Missoula, MT. Missoula, MT is about 17% higher than the lower-priced side on this committed estimate.

Committed monthly rent input is $2,136/mo in Lakeville, MN and $1,537/mo in Missoula, MT; Lakeville, MN is $599/mo higher. Both rent inputs use the same committed source type.

Among the committed BEA price parities available for both cities, the values differ most on utilities (21 index points) and least on services (5 index points). Both cities use their committed metro-area BEA price parities. Tax rows are state-level context and follow each place’s state, not its specific parcel or filing situation.

Side-by-side numbers

Lakeville vs Missoula at a glance.

Every row keeps its committed source, year, geography, and fallback/proxy limit. Difference is column B minus column A; it does not declare a winner.

Lakeville, MN and Missoula, MT housing and cost comparison
MeasureLakeville, MNMissoula, MTDifference (B − A)
Overall cost indexModeled index with 100 = U.S. baseline; housing 35%, rent 15%, goods 20%, services 20%, utilities 10%. Where a BEA price-parity component is missing, the model keeps the 100 baseline rather than inventing a local value.130129-1 pts
Typical home valueZillow ZHVI · Aug 2026 for Lakeville; Zillow ZHVI · Aug 2026 for Missoula.$485,324$568,490+$83,166
Monthly rent inputZillow ZORI · Aug 2026 for Lakeville; Zillow ZORI · Aug 2026 for Missoula. Both rent inputs use the same committed source type.$2,136/mo$1,537/mo-$599/mo
Home value / local incomeTypical home value divided by the place median household income. Unavailable when either side is missing or top-coded.3.5x8.1x+4.6x
Rent as a share of local incomeTypical annual rent input divided by the place median household income, before tax and other costs.18%26%+7.8 pts
Goods price parityBEA regional price parity for goods; 100 = national average. Lakeville: committed metro-area (MSA) price parity. Missoula: committed metro-area (MSA) price parity.103 (metro)96 (metro)-7 pts
Services price parityBEA regional price parity for services; 100 = national average. Lakeville: committed metro-area (MSA) price parity. Missoula: committed metro-area (MSA) price parity.104 (metro)99 (metro)-5 pts
Utilities price parityBEA regional price parity for utilities; 100 = national average. Lakeville: committed metro-area (MSA) price parity. Missoula: committed metro-area (MSA) price parity.93 (metro)72 (metro)-21 pts
Top state income-tax rateState context only, not an individual filing result.9.85%5.65%-4.199999999999999 pts
State + average local sales taxState rate plus average local rate; a reference, not a checkout rate.8.14%0%-8.14 pts
Property-tax proxyState-level effective owner-occupied property-tax proxy, not a parcel or individual tax bill.1.00%0.61%-0.39 pts
Housing pressure at local median income (renting)Existing housing-burden screen run at each city’s own median household income and committed rent input. Not a personal result.Tight · 18% of incomeTight · 26% of income+8 pts
Your household fit

Test your own income against either city.

This is the existing household housing-pressure screen, using the committed local defaults for the city you pick. It reuses the same thresholds as the city page, and your entries stay in this browser unless you copy a scenario link.

Your household inputs
Are you renting or buying?
Advanced assumptions
Initial rent input: $2,136 from ZILLOW (2026-08). Edit it to match the housing option you are considering.

Enter gross (pre-tax) household income. This screen compares housing and debt with that income and does not deduct income tax, payroll tax, food, healthcare, childcare, or other living costs. Your entries stay in this browser unless you copy a scenario link.

Your Household FitNot calculated yet

Enter your income and housing plan to see a household-specific estimate.

Sources and limits

Where these numbers come from.

Home value and rent

Zillow Research ZHVI and ZORI (City Level) (ZHVI 2026-08; ZORI 2026-08). Where a city has no ZORI match, the rent input falls back to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Fair Market Rents (FMRs) (FY2027): a HUD Fair Market Rent is a 40th-percentile recent-mover gross rent that includes tenant-paid utilities, a program benchmark for the named HUD area and not a market median, an asking rent, or ZORI. Otherwise the place-level Census ACS estimate is used. Each row names the source that actually fed it.

Household income and non-housing costs

U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-Year Estimates (2024) for place median household income. BEA Regional Price Parities (2024) for goods, services, and utilities price parities: committed metro (MSA) values where matched, otherwise the national nonmetropolitan fallback, which is not a city-specific price survey. A city with no committed BEA match shows Not provided instead of an observed 100, and the modeled overall index keeps its 100 baseline for those components.

Tax context

Income top rate 2026; sales tax midyear 2026; property-tax proxy Tax Foundation 2026 edition, based on 2024 ACS. These are state-level comparisons, not parcel or individual filing results.

Housing-pressure screen

Reuses the existing household scenario result logic from the city page. A planning scenario based on stated thresholds, not approval, underwriting, or personal financial advice. It does not deduct income tax, payroll tax, food, healthcare, childcare, or other living costs.

These are planning estimates built from committed public data snapshots. Local listings, parcel taxes, insurance quotes, and lender terms can differ. Curated pairs are selected only from committed city population and modeled cost data by a documented similarity rule; no search-volume feed is used, and no ranking or guaranteed-indexing claim is made.

Read the full methodology