Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Billings, MT MSA · October 2026
Every advertised-pay, job-posting and industry figure in this briefing comes from WageScape's own database of active job postings. The sources below back the external facts cited in the written analysis.
Sources cited in this report
Key Indicators
Yellowstone County avg weekly wage rose 4.2% to $1,285 in Q1 2026
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
This Month's Takeaways
Montana healthcare added 1,200+ jobs; hospital employment up 900+ in 2025
Montana Department of Labor & Industry — State labor market information report
Only four Montana urban counties saw 2025 job growth
Montana Department of Labor & Industry — County-level employment growth data
Local Economic Conditions
Billings MSA unemployment rate was 2.9% in August 2026
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Preliminary local area unemployment statistics
Looking Ahead
National payroll growth slowed to 29,000 in September with downward revisions
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National employment situation report
Montana real weekly wages fell 2.6% year-over-year as of May 2026
Montana Department of Labor & Industry — Inflation-adjusted wage tracking
How the numbers are calculated
- Advertised pay is the median of the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro. It is not survey or payroll data.
- Percent changes compare the latest six full months with the six months before that, for the same metro and sector.
- Sectors group postings by the employer's industry (NAICS) classification into ten sectors. Where a metro has too few postings in a sector, the state figure is used instead.
- Role pay trends use the same comparison windows. "Stable" means a change of less than 3%; "moderate" 3–10%; "significant" more than 10%.
Official data for comparison