Past Due? Montana Ranked First In The Nation For This.

Over the last few years, we've all discussed how expensive housing is here in Montana.

READ MORE: Montana town sees the biggest rent increase in America

When my wife and I first moved to Bozeman, apartments were hard to come by and we had to go on a waiting list in hopes of getting the one unit that was available at the complex that we wanted to move to. Luckily for us, it worked out.

Fast forward a few years and it seems that the demand for housing has decreased as far as rentals go, but what about buying a home?

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I have friends in the real estate business tell me that while prices have dropped a bit, there aren't a lot of available homes on the market and with higher interest rates, it's still pretty expensive to become a homeowner in parts of Montana.

Having said all of that, some new data may surprise you when it comes to Montana and home ownership. According to Deeds, Montana leads the nation in one particular category.

Where does Montana rank when it comes to late housing payments?

The average mortgage payment in Montana is right around 3000 dollars a month while the average rent payment is around 1000 (Both of those are higher in cities like Bozeman and Missoula) however, when it comes to making those payments Montana leads the nation.

That's right, Montana is ranked 50th for being late on mortgage and rental payments. Or, in a more positive spin, we rank first for paying on time.

According to the data, the majority of Montanans who are late on mortgage payments is just over 2 percent while the percent of folks being late on rent is just under 4 percent. Oh, and it's not just Montana that is paying their housing payments on time, it seems our friends over in Idaho are ranked slightly behind us.

So, where are folks struggling to make payments? While Mississippi leads the nation, it seems that our neighbors down in Wyoming are struggling a bit as well as they're ranked 4th in the nation with almost 20 percent of the population being late on rent.