Great Falls MT rent increase 2026 Great Falls — Cascade County’s seat, Montana’s “Electric City,” and home to Malmstrom Air Force Base — has no rent control of any kind in 2026. No Montana city has ever enacted residential rent control, and the Montana Legislature has never passed rent-control enabling legislation. Montana MRLTA (MCA §§70-24-101 to 70-24-442): no statutory deposit cap; 30-day return with itemized statement (MCA §70-25-201); actual damages only for wrongful withholding — no multiplier (MCA §70-25-206); 3-day pay-or-quit with mandatory cure right (MCA §70-24-422). Malmstrom AFB 341st Missile Wing: one of only three Minuteman III ICBM Wings in the entire United States; ~150 deployed ICBMs; ~3,800+ military and civilian personnel; BAH-supported rental demand. Benefis Health System: Level II Trauma; Montana’s largest independent health system in Great Falls; ~3,000–3,500 employees.

Montana rent control status: why no Great Falls ordinance can cap rents

Montana has no residential rent control anywhere in the state in 2026. Not Great Falls, not Billings (Montana’s largest city, ~120,000–125,000), not Missoula (~77,000–80,000), not Bozeman (~55,000–60,000), not Helena (the state capital, ~33,000), not Butte, not Kalispell, not any other Montana community. No Montana municipality has ever enacted a residential rent control or rent stabilization ordinance in the entire history of the state.

Montana differs from states that have enacted explicit rent-control preemption statutes: Texas (LGC §214.902, 1981), Wisconsin (Wis. Stat. §66.1015, 1981), Michigan (MCL §123.409, 1988), Illinois (765 ILCS 720, 1997), North Dakota (NDCC §47-16-07.3, 1981), Tennessee (T.C.A. §66-35-102, 2014), Missouri (RSMo §441.043, 2021), and Kansas (K.S.A. §12-16,130, 2021). Montana has never needed a preemption statute because no Montana municipality has ever attempted to pass rent regulation.

The Great Falls rental market has never experienced any municipal discussion of rent control. The city’s dominant employer — Malmstrom AFB — is a federal installation whose workforce operates under SCRA protections and BAH pay structures rather than civilian rent-regulation frameworks. Benefis Health System and other major Great Falls employers pay competitive wages that sustain the Great Falls rental market without regulatory intervention.

Montana MRLTA: Great Falls deposit, notice, and eviction rules

Security deposit: no cap, 30-day return, actual damages — MCA §§70-25-101 to 70-25-206

Montana’s security deposit framework (MCA §§70-25-101 to 70-25-206) is distinguished by its absence of a deposit cap and its actual-damages-only penalty structure.

No statutory deposit cap (MCA §70-25-101): Montana imposes no statutory maximum on security deposits. A Great Falls landlord may collect one month’s rent, two months’ rent, or any other amount as a deposit. In the Great Falls market, 1–2 months’ rent is standard practice; collecting more than 2 months without documented credit risk or pet-damage history may create competitive disadvantage in a market with significant military-tenant mobility. Compare: Montana’s no-cap position contrasts with Alaska (2-month cap), Hawaii (1-month cap), Arizona (1.5-month cap), California (1-month cap post-AB 12), and Nevada (3-month cap).

30-day return deadline (MCA §70-25-201): After all three trigger conditions are met — (a) tenancy terminates, (b) tenant delivers possession, AND (c) tenant provides a written forwarding address — the Great Falls landlord must return the deposit balance with a written itemized statement within 30 DAYS. For military tenants receiving PCS orders, departure may be rapid; request the forwarding address in writing at lease signing to ensure you have it when needed. Send the deposit and statement via USPS certified mail by day 25 to allow transit time within the 30-day window.

Actual damages for wrongful withholding — no multiplier (MCA §70-25-206): A Great Falls landlord who wrongfully withholds the security deposit is liable for the tenant’s actual damages plus court costs and attorney fees — but no statutory penalty multiplier. Montana, Wyoming (Wyo. Stat. §1-21-1209), South Dakota, and North Dakota (NDCC §47-16-07(3)) form the most landlord-favorable deposit-penalty cluster in the Mountain West and Northern Plains. Compare: Idaho imposes 3× treble damages; Alaska imposes 3×; California and Oregon impose 2×; Texas imposes 3× (bad faith + $100 + attorney fees).

No deposit interest required: Montana does not require landlords to pay annual interest on security deposits held during the tenancy. Standard checking or savings account is sufficient.

Eviction: 3-day notice with mandatory cure right — MCA §70-24-422

For non-payment of rent, the Great Falls landlord serves a written 3-day notice demanding payment of all overdue rent or surrender of the premises (MCA §70-24-422). Montana’s 3-day period is among the shortest notice periods in the Mountain West — shorter than Washington (14 days), Oregon (13-day tenant right to terminate, 5-day landlord notice), Alaska (7 days), and Nevada (7 days).

The critical distinction is Montana’s mandatory cure right: if the tenant pays all overdue rent within the 3-day period, the tenancy continues and the landlord cannot proceed with eviction. This makes Montana’s eviction framework more tenant-protective than Texas, Florida, California, or Ohio, which all pair 3-day notice periods with no statutory cure right.

Court: Cascade County District Court, Eighth Judicial District, 415 2nd Ave. N., Great Falls, MT 59401. All Great Falls residential eviction proceedings are filed here.

Month-to-month termination (MCA §70-24-441): Either party may terminate a month-to-month tenancy with 30 days’ written notice. No just-cause requirement. Montana has no just-cause eviction statute at the state level.

SCRA eviction protection: Under 50 U.S.C. §3938, evicting an active-duty servicemember or their dependent from housing generally requires a court order even in circumstances where administrative eviction might otherwise be available. Proceed through the formal District Court process for all Malmstrom military tenants.

Malmstrom AFB 341st Missile Wing: one of only three US ICBM wings

Malmstrom Air Force Base (7715 USAF Ave., Great Falls, MT 59402) is Cascade County’s largest employer and the dominant economic engine of north-central Montana. The base hosts the 341st Missile Wing, which operates and maintains approximately 150 Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles in hardened launch silos across approximately 23,000 square miles of north-central Montana.

The 341st Missile Wing is one of only three Minuteman III ICBM wings in the entire United States. The other two are:

• 90th Missile Wing, F.E. Warren Air Force Base (Cheyenne, Wyoming) — one of the three legs of Wyoming’s military economy; also home to AFSPC Space Base Delta.
• 91st Missile Wing, Minot Air Force Base (Minot, North Dakota) — the only US base with both a Minuteman III ICBM wing AND a B-52H strategic bomber wing co-located; commands the northern plains nuclear deterrent.

Together, these three ICBM wings at Malmstrom (MT), F.E. Warren (WY), and Minot (ND) operate all of the deployed land-based Minuteman III ICBMs in the US nuclear arsenal. The 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom is also slated to be among the first units to transition from Minuteman III to the next-generation LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM (Northrop Grumman; contract 2020; ~$96 billion total program; initial operational capability mid-2020s), guaranteeing Malmstrom’s strategic mission — and its Great Falls employment impact — through at least 2075.

Additionally, the 120th Airlift Wing (Montana Air National Guard) operates C-130H Hercules transport aircraft at Malmstrom, adding full-time Guard members and technicians to the Great Falls employment base.

BAH impact on Great Falls rental market: Military BAH creates a minimum rental demand floor in Great Falls. Representative 2026 BAH rates (Malmstrom ZIP codes; with dependents):

Military Rank	BAH With Dependents (2026F)	Primary rental zone
E-4 (Specialist/SrA)	~$1,000–$1,050/mo	East Great Falls; Malmstrom corridor
E-6 (Staff Sergeant)	~$1,100–$1,150/mo	East and central Great Falls
O-1 (2nd Lt / 2nd Lt)	~$1,100–$1,150/mo	Near-base corridors
O-3 (Captain)	~$1,200–$1,250/mo	South and central Great Falls
O-5 (Lt Colonel)	~$1,350–$1,400/mo	South Great Falls; higher-end SFR

BAH ensures that even junior enlisted personnel can sustain Great Falls market-rate rents, preventing the civilian-only affordability pressures seen in markets without military presence. The annual PCS cycle (typically June–August peak PCS season) creates predictable mid-year vacancy/fill cycles in military-adjacent neighborhoods.

Benefis Health System: Level II Trauma and Great Falls’ largest private employer

Benefis Health System (1101 26th St. S., Great Falls, MT 59405) is Great Falls’s second-largest employer overall (after Malmstrom AFB) and Montana’s largest independent (non-system) health network anchored in north-central Montana.

Benefis operates a Level II Trauma Center — the only Level II Trauma Center in north-central Montana, serving Cascade, Chouteau, Fergus, Glacier, Pondera, Teton, Judith Basin, and adjacent counties. As a Level II Trauma Center, Benefis provides definitive care for all injury severities, including neurotrauma, orthopedic trauma, and thoracic and abdominal emergencies. Complex Level I cases are transferred to Billings Clinic (~3,500 employees; Level II Trauma; tertiary referral hub for eastern and central Montana).

Key Benefis service lines: Level II Trauma, cardiac catheterization lab and open-heart surgery, oncology/cancer center, Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), behavioral health inpatient unit, and orthopedic surgery center. The breadth of Benefis’ services sustains approximately 3,000–3,500 healthcare workers in Great Falls — the largest concentration of professional-class workers outside of Malmstrom AFB.

Benefis healthcare workers earn competitive wages relative to the Great Falls cost of living: Registered Nurses $65,000–$100,000+; Radiologic Technologists $55,000–$80,000; Respiratory Therapists $55,000–$75,000; Physical Therapists $70,000–$90,000. These income levels support 2BR rents in the $950–$1,300 range comfortably, sustaining demand in the Benefis neighborhood corridor south of downtown.

BNSF Railway and Great Falls’ industrial employment base

Great Falls is a significant rail junction for BNSF Railway’s northern transcontinental main line, with BNSF operating a maintenance facility and crew base in Great Falls employing approximately 200–400 railroad workers. BNSF locomotive engineers and conductors earn $90,000–$150,000+ annually in union wages, creating a small but high-earning rental cohort in the central and east Great Falls market.

NorthWestern Energy (NYSE:NWE; Montana’s largest regulated electric and natural gas utility) operates the five Missouri River hydroelectric dams and its Great Falls area service territory from local offices, employing approximately 200–400 workers in Cascade County. These utility workers — engineers, operators, lineworkers, billing, customer service — add to the stable professional employment base in Great Falls.

Great Falls rental market by neighborhood: 2026 price guide

Submarket	1BR 2026F	2BR 2026F	Primary demand driver
Malmstrom Corridor / East 10th Ave. S.	$800–$1,000	$1,000–$1,350	Malmstrom active-duty; BAH-supported; PCS cycles
Benefis Corridor / South 1st Ave. S.	$775–$975	$975–$1,300	Benefis nurses; allied health professionals
Central Great Falls / Downtown	$700–$900	$875–$1,150	Mixed workers; Central Ave. commercial corridor
West Great Falls / Gore Hill	$675–$875	$875–$1,100	BNSF; NorthWestern Energy; families
Black Eagle (north bank)	$650–$825	$800–$1,050	Affordable tier; working-class families
Cascade (SE, unincorporated)	$600–$800	$775–$1,000	Rural commuters; ranching support workers

Rental trajectory (Great Falls): 2019 2BR: ~$750–$950 → 2022 2BR: ~$850–$1,150 → 2026F 2BR: ~$950–$1,350. Great Falls rent growth has been steady but moderate compared to Bozeman’s explosive post-2020 trajectory, driven by BAH adjustments, healthcare wage increases, and general Montana inflation rather than speculative tech-worker in-migration.

Related RentCeiling resources for Montana landlords

See also: Missoula MT rent increase 2026 (University of Montana R1; Providence St. Patrick Level II Trauma; USFS Northern Region 1 HQ), Billings MT rent increase 2026 (Billings Clinic Montana’s largest independent health system; ExxonMobil refinery; 1st Interstate BancSystem), and the comprehensive Montana MRLTA complete guide covering MCA §§70-24-101 to 70-24-442 with Malmstrom AFB, Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, and Bozeman market analysis.