City comparison
Great Falls, MT is about 125 miles (225 km) from Missoula, MT in a straight line. By road, the drive is roughly 175 miles, or about 2 h 45 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 Great Falls, MT to Missoula, MT takes about 16 min, covering roughly 125 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.
Great Falls, MT is on Mountain Time and Missoula, MT is on Pacific Time — a 1-hour difference. When it's noon in Great Falls, it's 11 a.m. in Missoula, which puts Great Falls 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 60,373 in Great Falls — about 1.2× larger by population. By land area, Missoula covers about 35 sq mi vs 23 sq mi for Great Falls.
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 | Great Falls | Missoula | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $828/mo | $1,064/mo | 28.5% higher in Missoula |
| Median home value | $223,700 | $380,500 | 70.1% higher in Missoula |
| Median household income | $58,272 | $59,783 | 2.6% higher in Missoula |
| Groceries index | 96.7 | 96.7 | ≈ equal |
| Utilities index | 77.7 | 76.8 | 1.1% higher in Great Falls |
| 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 Great Falls, you'd need $99,778 in Missoula to maintain your standard of living.
Climate, safety, and demographics side by side.
Great Falls and Missoula have nearly identical overall cost-of-living indices. If you earn $80,000 in Great Falls, you'd need about $79,823 in Missoula to keep the same standard of living.