State of Montana's Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

Entrepreneurs span across the state of Montana, but access to resources and community are fragmented, and isolated in urban centers.

The geographic size of Montana, combined with the rural nature of much of the state, creates unique challenges for entrepreneurs in accessing the resources they need to succeed.

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Understanding Montana

Montana offers a unique entrepreneurial landscape, with a mix of urban hubs and rural communities. The state's vast geography and dispersed population create both challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurs. Many startups have seen success in our urban centers, think Bozeman and Missoula, yet our rural communities are often left out of the conversation, and underserved by existing resources.

Bozeman serves as the primary hub for entrepreneurship in Montana, with a concentration of resources, funding, and community support. As we leave Bozeman, there is a significant drop-off in resources and support in our other urban centers. This drop-off becomes even more pronounced for our rural communities, where access to resources is often limited or non-existent.

Most rural communities have a single regional economic development corporation (EDC) that serves as the primary resource for entrepreneurs.

Economic Dev.

3.1

Urban: 4.1 | Rural: 2.1

Accelerators

1.8

Urban: 2.6 | Rural: 1.1

Incubators

1.4

Urban: 1.9 | Rural: 1.0

Events

1.5

Urban: 2.1 | Rural: 1.0

Education

1.9

Urban: 2.7 | Rural: 1.3

Funding

1.9

Urban: 2.9 | Rural: 1.1

The averages of every hub across Montana for each category, on a scale of 1-5.

Entrepreneur Hubs

Our team decided to focus our analysis on 15 regional hubs across Montana, each hub is connected to a network of spoke communities. These hubs are home to the majority of the state's entrepreneurial resources. Aside from online services, traveling to the nearest hub is the only way to access the resources entrepreneurs need.

The map below visualizes these hubs and spokes, and scores each hub based on the strength of its resources and connections. Each hub is scaled in size based on population, clicking on a hub will show all the connected spoke cities.

Easy Access to Quality Resources

Bozeman is the only hub in the state that we considered to have good entrepreneurial resources, giving direct access to 57,894 residents.

The quality of resources is spurred by the presence of MSU, which provides a strong talent pipeline, research partnerships, and a culture of entrepreneurship.

The presence of the university and multiple successful startups leads to a higher entrepreneurial density that can self support an increased number of events, accelerators, and attract more eyes for funding.

7.74%

of Montana's population has good access to entrepreneurial resources. 5.09% reside within the hub and have direct access, while the other 2.65% belong to a spoke community and may need to travel.

Direct via hub

57,894

Indirect via spoke

30,087

25.03%

of Montana's population has moderate access to entrepreneurial resources. 20.31% reside within the hub and have direct access, while the other 4.72% belong to a spoke community and may need to travel.

Direct via hub

230,983

Indirect via spoke

53,675

Patchwork Communities

Most of Montana's urban hubs (populations greater than 30,000) are considered to have a moderate offering of resources. The hubs tend to have a few strong resources, but lack the depth and breadth of offerings needed to support a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Most of the resources in these hubs are centered around a higher education institution, or by economic development organizations. Several of these communities have relatively new organizations that are working to fill in the gaps.

Few Resources

All of Montana's rural hubs (populations less than 30,000) are considered to have poor access to entrepreneurial resources. These hubs tend to have a single economic development corporation (EDC) that serves as the primary resource for the entire region.

With these rural hubs, the distance spoke communities need to travel to access resources is often much greater and increases the necessity for quality hybrid or remote resources.

21.38%

of Montana's population has poor access to entrepreneurial resources. 15.64% reside within the hub and have direct access, while the other 5.74% belong to a spoke community and may need to travel.

Direct via hub

177,870

Indirect via spoke

65,266

521,458 Untracked Residents

The remaining 45.85% of the population, are not tracked within our hub and spoke model. These residents may have access to resources in smaller communities that we did not track, or they may be located in areas of the state that are too far from a hub to be reasonably considered connected.

Hub Breakdown

We scored each hub across six categories: economic development organizations, accelerators, incubators, entrepreneur events, access to education, and access to funding. The grading is weighted in relation to the entire Montana ecosystem, a score of 5 reflects the strongest offerings in the state, while a score of 1 reflects no resources in that category.

Hub	Region	Pop.	Econ Dev	Accel.	Incub.	Educ.	Events	Funding	Score
Bozeman	Southwest	57,894	5.0	5.0	5.0	4.0	4.0	5.0	4.7 - A
Missoula	Western	78,204	4.0	4.0	3.0	2.0	3.0	3.0	3.2 - C
Kalispell	Northwest	31,296	3.0	3.0	1.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	2.7 - C
Billings	South-Central	121,483	5.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	3.0	3.0	2.5 - C
Helena	West-Central	34,729	4.0	1.0	1.0	3.0	2.0	2.0	2.2 - D
Great Falls	North-Central	60,013	4.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0 - D
Butte	Southwest	35,480	4.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	1.8 - D
Havre	Hi-Line	9,204	3.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	1.7 - D
Lewistown	Central	6,204	2.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.3 - F
Dillon	Southwest	4,242	2.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	1.0	1.3 - F
Miles City	Southeast	8,407	2.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.2 - F
Glasgow	Northeast	3,169	2.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.2 - F
Glendive	East-Central	4,760	2.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.2 - F
Sidney	Northeast	6,031	2.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.2 - F
Polson	Northwest	5,631	2.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.2 - F

Resources Explorer

Polson

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Economic Development

Economic Dev

Polson

Lake County Community Development Corporation

Economic Dev

Dillon

Beaverhead Development Corporation

Education

Dillon

University of Montana Western

Methodology

This report is based on data collected by the Montana Foundry team, and is intended to be a snapshot of the current state of Montana's entrepreneurial ecosystem, not a comprehensive directory of every resource in the state.

Data Collection & Scoring

We identified 15 regional hub cities across Montana based on population size, economic activity, and local input. We then mapped the spoke communities based on travel distance to the nearest hub. For each hub, we collected data on entrepreneurial resources across six categories: economic development organizations, accelerators, incubators, entrepreneur events, access to education, and access to funding. Each hub was scored on a scale of 1-5 in each category based on the quantity and quality of resources available.

The statewide overview aggregates these scores to provide an overall picture of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Montana, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses across the state.

Population Data

Data was retrieved from the Montana Department of Commerce population dashboard which contains data from the U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program.

Did we miss something?

We know our data isn't perfect, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem is constantly evolving. If you have suggestions for resources we missed, or corrections to our data, please reach out to us.

Last updated April 2026