City comparison
Bozeman, MT is about 175 miles (275 km) from Missoula, MT in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 200 miles, or about 3 h 30 min behind the wheel at highway speeds.
Driving distance is a rough estimate (great-circle × 1.25); driving time assumes a 60 mph blended average. Real trips run 10–20% longer with stops.
A direct flight from Bozeman, MT to Missoula, MT takes about 20 min, covering roughly 175 miles in a straight line. Connecting itineraries with a layover typically add 1–3 hours.
Block-to-block estimate at ~500 mph cruise, including taxi, climb, and descent — what an airline would publish, not pure airborne time.
Bozeman, MT is on Mountain Time and Missoula, MT is on Pacific Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Bozeman, it's 11 a.m. in Missoula, which puts Bozeman 1 hours ahead.
Standard-time offsets. Daylight saving applies in both cities for most of the year (exceptions: Hawaii and most of Arizona), and the gap between the two stays the same.
Missoula has a population of 74,627, vs 53,500 in Bozeman — about 1.4× larger by population. By land area, Missoula covers about 35 sq mi vs 21 sq mi for Bozeman.
Population from US Census ACS. Land area from the Census Gazetteer (city proper, excluding inland water).
Cost indices by category, with the US city average (100) marked.
Index: 100 = US city average. Lower is more affordable.
Side-by-side costs, salaries, and sub-category indices.
| Metric | Bozeman | Missoula | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,447/mo | $1,064/mo | 36.0% higher in Bozeman |
| Median home value | $546,100 | $380,500 | 43.5% higher in Bozeman |
| Median household income | $74,113 | $59,783 | 24.0% higher in Bozeman |
| Groceries index | 96.7 | 96.7 | ≈ equal |
| Utilities index | 78.3 | 76.8 | 1.8% higher in Bozeman |
| Transportation index | 99.3 | 99.3 | ≈ equal |
| Healthcare index | 99.2 | 99.2 | ≈ equal |
How much you'd need to earn in the other city to keep the same standard of living.
If you earn $100,000 in Bozeman, you'd need $83,779 in Missoula to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Missoula, MT is about 16.2% cheaper overall than Bozeman, MT, based on our cost-of-living index. Housing costs are roughly 46% higher in Bozeman than in Missoula. If you earn $80,000 in Bozeman, you'd need about $67,023 in Missoula to keep the same standard of living.