Vinyl fence cost in Montana

When Montana weather lets you install

Weather decides when exterior installation can happen, and Montana is not uniform. The table uses NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals from the weather station nearest each metro we cover, and counts the months that are neither cold nor hot enough to complicate the job.

Billings has the longest comfortable season of the metros we cover in Montana at 9 months (March through November); Missoula has the shortest at 8 (March through October). Rainfall runs from 14 inches a year in Missoula to 20 inches in Bozeman.

We do not adjust prices by month, because we have no reliable published data on seasonal pricing. Timing is still worth raising when you collect bids.

Montana against its neighbors

Montana ranks 26 of 51 (the 50 states plus DC) for vinyl fence, where 1 is the most expensive. The costliest is Hawaii at $8,250 and the cheapest Arkansas at $6,200, both for 150 linear ft at the midpoint. Montana sits at $6,650. The five states closest by workforce center are listed below.

Which Montana city is cheapest for vinyl fence?

1 of the 3 metros sit above the statewide midpoint of $6,650, and the top-to-bottom gap is 2%. Each row prices the default size with that metro's own BLS wages and BEA price levels, so the gap between rows is real local variation rather than a flat markup.

Basic, standard or premium: Montana prices

Bands overlap on purpose, since a good standard job can cost as much as a light premium one. Below are the three bands for the default size, then a grid from backyard (100 linear ft) to full lot (300 linear ft).

Why two Montana quotes can differ

• Type and height

  A vinyl picket fence is $30-$45 per linear foot; a 6-ft privacy fence $40-$60, and 8-ft goes to $85 (HomeGuide).

• Gates

  A vinyl gate costs $150-$780 installed, more for large or complex ones.

• Removal

  Taking down an old fence is $10-$20 per linear foot extra, with disposal.

• Permit

  Fence permits run $40-$150 depending on location.

Wages behind the Montana number

Montana's labor line is priced from 2 trades, each compared with its US median wage. After weighting by each trade's share of the work, the state comes out at 1.01 times the national level.

Carpenters (47-2031), 50% of the weighting: a median of $28.28 an hour, in line with the US median of $29.12. The middle half of them earn between $23.84 and $32.47 an hour. About 4,030 work in the state. That is 78.8 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 43.1 nationally, which suggests plenty of local crews to bid.

For construction laborers (47-2061, weighted 50%) the local median is $23.96 an hour, which is 6% above the national $22.66. The middle half of them earn between $20.80 and $28.24 an hour. BLS counts 4,590 of them working in the state, 89.7 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 70.5), so the local bench is deeper than average.

A crew paid at the 75th percentile for carpenters ($32.47 an hour) would add about $110 to the statewide midpoint; one at the 25th percentile ($23.84) would take off about $110. Use that as a rough guide to how far a bid can sit from our midpoint on wages alone.

BLS counts 511,580 jobs across Montana (May 2025), which is 0.3% of US employment.

Optional extras in Montana

Add-ons start from national price ranges and are scaled by 0.99 for Montana, which is the average of the area's wage index (1.01) and goods price index (0.96). The estimator above can add them to your total.

Related projects, priced for Montana

Each project weights the trades differently, so Montana's wage level does not push every price by the same amount. Compared with the US midpoint, concrete slab is level and aluminum fence −2%.