Who
Treasure State is an independent guide to Montana towns, road trips, history, and outdoor recreation. We publish practical pages for travelers planning a visit and for people comparing communities before a move—town profiles, data-backed rankings, corridor planners, historic markers, and long-form guides.
The site is maintained as a living reference, not a one-off brochure. When public datasets update, we refresh the underlying town and ranking data so comparisons stay useful.
How
Editorial pages (history, geology, road-trip narratives, town stories) are written for readers first: clear answers, local context, and links to related towns and tools. Quantitative pages—housing, affordability, safety, employment, climate—pull from named public sources and show the factors used on each ranking.
Rankings are transparent by design. Every Best of Montana list includes a methodology note. Town hubs combine narrative with structured facts so you can scan numbers or dig into the full profile.
Data sources we track
| Source | Cadence | Last collected |
|---|---|---|
| Zillow Home Values & Rent (ZHVI/ZORI) | monthly | 2026-07-10 |
| Zillow Inventory, List Prices & New Listings | monthly | 2026-01-31 |
| U.S. Census ACS Housing Units & VacancyACS 5-Year 2019–2023 | annual | 2026-01-20 |
| U.S. Census ACS Employment & SchoolsACS 5-Year 2019–2023 | annual | 2026-07-10 |
| U.S. Census ACS Industry DataACS 5-Year 2019–2023 | annual | 2026-07-10 |
| FBI UCR Crime StatisticsFBI UCR 2023 | annual | 2026-03-06 |
| Montana Hospital & Trauma FacilitiesMT DPHHS 2024 | annual | 2026-07-10 |
| EPA Superfund / National Priorities ListEPA NPL 2024 | annual | 2026-07-10 |
| Montana OPI / NCES Graduation RatesOPI/NCES 2022–23 | annual | 2026-07-10 |
| Recreation & Outdoor Sites (OSM + Editorial) | quarterly | 2026-07-10 |
| Climate & Weather Averages | annual | 2026-07-10 |
| Census ACS housing | annual | 2026-07-10 |
Dates reflect our last successful collection run, not the original agency release date. Vintage labels (when present) identify the underlying survey or reporting year.
Why
Montana’s official nickname is The Treasure State, adopted to highlight mineral wealth—especially gold, silver, and copper—that shaped settlement and industry. The state motto, Oro y Plata (“Gold and Silver”), points to the same heritage. The unofficial tourism nickname Big Sky Country describes the open landscapes visitors still come for.
We use “Treasure State” as the brand because it ties travel and relocation research to that deeper Montana story—mining camps, mountain corridors, and the communities that grew around them. Read more in Why is Montana called the Treasure State?.