The Office of the Governor of the State of Montana

07/18/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/18/2025 11:51

Montana Maintains Near-Record Low Unemployment for Four Consecutive Years

Montana Maintains Near-Record Low Unemployment for Four Consecutive Years

Ranked among top 5 states for lowest unemployment

Governor's Office
  • July 18 2025

HELENA, Mont. - Governor Greg Gianforte today announced Montana's unemployment rate remained at 2.8% in June, marking the ninth straight month under 3% and four consecutive years of unemployment at or below 3.4%, a new record.

"With more Montanans working now than ever before and historically low unemployment, we're seeing the results of our pro-jobs policies," Gov. Gianforte said. "This month marks a new record stretch of four years of low unemployment and reinforces Montana's reputation as one of the nation's best places to live, work, and raise a family."

Montana's unemployment rate was 1.3% lower than the national unemployment rate, which was 4.1% in June. Montana ranked in the top five states in the nation with the lowest unemployment rates.

Total employment (which includes payroll, agricultural, and self-employed workers) decreased slightly in June. Construction, financial activities, and professional services each added 500 or more jobs over the month. Payroll jobs fell by 500 jobs over the month with losses in retail and wholesale trade, private education, healthcare, administrative and support services, and federal government employment.

The month of June marked the fourth consecutive month where the number of unemployed Montanans remained below 16,000 - near the record low of just under 14,000 which was reached in 2023.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis in June. The index for shelter rose 0.2% in June, the primary factor for the monthly all items increase. Over the last 12 months, the all-items index rose 2.7% with core inflation rising 2.9%. The index for all items minus food and energy, or core inflation, rose 0.2% in June.

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** Unemployment figures are seasonally-adjusted. Seasonally-adjusted numbers remove the effects of events that follow a regular month-to-month pattern each year. These adjustments make non-seasonal patterns easier to identify. The margin of error for the unemployment rate is plus or minus 0.5 percentage points at the 90 percent confidence level. All questions relating to the calculation of unemployment rates should be directed to the Montana Department of Labor & Industry's Data and Operations Bureau at 406-444-4100.

The next Labor Market Information report, including data from July 2025, will be released on Tuesday August 19th.

**** INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET ****
Visit our website at https://www.lmi.mt.gov for additional information and analysis, including industry employment levels, background on the unemployment rate, and wage rates by occupation. Visit https://www.lmi.mt.gov/home/job-tracking for Montana unemployment claims and current economic data.
****** COUNTY UNEMPLOYMENT RATES ******
The unemployment rate and ranking for each of Montana's 56 counties is provided below for your convenience. County unemployment rates and employment levels are not seasonally adjusted and should be compared to the unadjusted statewide unemployment rate of 2.7%.

 

Unemployment Rate

Employment

Rank

County

Current Unemployment Rate

Change over Year

Current Employment

Job Change from Last Year

1

Treasure

1.5

-1.6

390

-19

2

Carter

1.6

-1

661

-17

2

Prairie

1.6

0.2

676

-81

4

Fallon

1.9

0.2

1,496

-122

5

Garfield

2

-0.5

640

-10

5

Liberty

2

-0.3

885

-2

7

Chouteau

2.1

-0.1

2,724

-40

7

Daniels

2.1

0.1

734

-5

7

Dawson

2.1

-0.2

4,308

21

7

McCone

2.1

-0.3

832

-14

7

Powder River

2.1

0.4

905

-4

7

Richland

2.1

-0.2

5,879

-64

13

Blaine

2.2

-0.6

2,724

-48

13

Custer

2.2

0.1

6,614

-166

13

Meagher

2.2

-0.1

970

-33

13

Teton

2.2

-0.3

2,868

-5

17

Beaverhead

2.3

-0.1

4,640

49

17

Park

2.3

-0.1

10,114

-85

17

Toole

2.3

0

2,217

6

20

Broadwater

2.4

0.1

3,910

-18

20

Jefferson

2.4

-0.2

6,050

-56

20

Rosebud

2.4

-0.3

3,679

-85

20

Valley

2.4

0.2

3,597

-98

24

Fergus

2.5

-0.1

5,845

36

24

Gallatin

2.5

0.2

72,029

-4119

24

Golden Valley

2.5

-0.3

421

-1

24

Lewis and Clark

2.5

0

36,853

-238

24

Missoula

2.5

0

70,724

-294

24

Sheridan

2.5

0

1,689

-37

30

Carbon

2.6

-0.1

5,549

-66

30

Hill

2.6

0

6,885

40

30

Wibaux

2.6

0.3

417

-2

30

Yellowstone

2.6

0.1

86,671

-797

34

Cascade

2.7

0.1

38,510

-636

35

Flathead

2.8

0

59,568

481

35

Judith Basin

2.8

0.1

959

-48

35

Petroleum

2.8

-0.9

243

10

35

Pondera

2.8

-0.5

2,477

-70

39

Phillips

2.9

0.2

1,941

-18

39

Ravalli

2.9

0

20,786

286

41

Lake

3

-0.2

14,603

285

42

Deer Lodge

3.1

0.1

4,456

109

42

Silver Bow

3.1

0.1

17,345

188

44

Sweet Grass

3.2

1

1,742

-219

45

Powell

3.3

0.2

2,589

22

45

Stillwater

3.3

0.8

4,446

-55

47

Roosevelt

3.6

0.2

3,587

-39

48

Mineral

3.7

-0.2

2,170

-26

49

Wheatland

3.8

0.3

729

6

50

Glacier

3.9

0.2

5,801

-48

50

Musselshell

3.9

0.2

1,894

-17

52

Granite

4.4

-0.9

1,314

7

53

Sanders

4.6

0.1

4,803

-13

54

Big Horn

4.9

0.8

4,288

-91

55

Lincoln

5

0.1

8,310

165

56

Madison

7.8

3

2,168

-1049

****** RESERVATION UNEMPLOYMENT RATES ******
The unemployment rate and ranking for each of Montana's seven reservations is provided below. Reservation unemployment rates and employment levels are not seasonally adjusted and should be compared to the unadjusted statewide unemployment rate of 2.7%. Reservation areas overlap with county areas, meaning that unemployed individuals living on a reservation will be included in both the reservation and county totals.

 

Unemployment Rate

Employment

Rank

Area

Current Unemployment Rate

Change over Year

Current Employment

Job Change from Last Year

1

Flathead

3.7

-0.2

14,002

247

2

Fort Peck

5

0.3

3,033

-39

3

Blackfeet

5.2

0.2

4,252

-40

4

Northern Cheyenne

5.8

-0.4

1,368

-32

5

Rocky Boy's

7.3

0.2

934

-2

6

Crow

8.1

1.2

2,052

-42

7

Fort Belknap

9.9

-1.3

861

-15

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Tags: Jobs and Economy
The Office of the Governor of the State of Montana published this content on July 18, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on July 18, 2025 at 17:51 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at support@pubt.io