Montanas Yellowstone Glacier Gateways STR Market Report

Thomas Garner
Jul 23
18 min read

Updated: 7 hours ago

Montana's short-term rental conversation is dominated by two names: Big Sky and Bozeman. Both deserve the attention , Big Sky's resort-scale inventory and Bozeman's airport-anchored demand base have made them the default answer to "where do I buy in Montana." But that also means both markets are largely locked up. Land and home prices in Big Sky compete with established Rocky Mountain resort towns, national property managers have blanketed Bozeman-proper, and the easy positioning angles , "gateway to two national parks," "underpriced relative to Jackson Hole" , have already been claimed by operators with institutional marketing budgets behind them.

This report deliberately skips both. Instead, it covers three towns that sit in Big Sky and Bozeman's shadow geographically but haven't been absorbed into their markets commercially:Livingston(the Paradise Valley anchor town about an hour from Yellowstone's north entrance at Gardiner),Red Lodge(the Beartooth Highway and Yellowstone's northeast entrance), andWhitefish alongside Flathead Lake(Glacier National Park's southwest doorstep). These are not a single contiguous drive market , Whitefish sits roughly 230 miles from Livingston and Red Lodge, a four-hour-plus drive across the state, and the two Yellowstone gateways aren't exactly neighbors either (Red Lodge to Livingston is about 90 minutes via Highway 78). We're grouping them because they share an identity, not a windshield radius: all three are fragmented-to-semi-fragmented STR markets riding national-park demand without the price ceiling or manager saturation of the towns everyone already talks about.

A note on methodology before the market-by-market breakdown: this report was compiled through targeted web research in July 2026, cross-referencing municipal records, local news coverage, and third-party STR data aggregators (AirDNA, Rabbu, Awning). Where sources disagreed , which happened often, especially on occupancy , we've flagged the discrepancy rather than picking the number that told the better story. Anyone underwriting a purchase in these markets should verify current figures directly with the relevant city clerk's office and pull fresh AirDNA or Rabbu data before finalizing numbers.

Livingston: The Paradise Valley Gateway, Minus the Big Sky Price Tag

Livingston is the town Bozeman used to be , a working railroad town turned creative-community magnet, sitting at the north end of Paradise Valley about 53 miles (roughly an hour's drive via US-89) north of Gardiner, which is Yellowstone's north entrance and its only entrance open year-round. Livingston isn't the entrance town itself , that's Gardiner , but it's the larger, more amenity-rich anchor community travelers and second-home buyers use as a base for the valley. It has real cultural cachet (it's been home to writers, artists, and film industry transplants for decades) and a walkable downtown that reads as "authentic Montana" in a way that's increasingly rare within STR-priced driving distance of the park. For an operator or investor priced out of Big Sky and unwilling to compete against Bozeman's saturated near-airport inventory, Livingston is the value play with a defensible brand story already built in.

Demand drivers: Yellowstone north-entrance access via Paradise Valley, the Yellowstone River (a blue-ribbon fly-fishing destination in its own right), and a downtown arts-and-dining scene that gives Livingston legitimate shoulder-season and even winter demand beyond pure park-adjacent traffic. Where Livingston and Red Lodge are essentially summer-dominant with modest shoulder seasons, the Whitefish/Flathead Lake corridor runs on two genuinely distinct demand engines rather than one: a summer engine (Glacier National Park tourism plus Flathead Lake and Whitefish Lake boating season, both running roughly June through September and substantially overlapping rather than layering as separate seasons) and a separate winter engine (Whitefish Mountain Resort's ski season).

Operator landscape: Third-party market data (AirDNA, cited via Awning) puts Livingston STRs at roughly 57% average occupancy and a $341 average daily rate as of 2026 , figures that should be treated as directional rather than exact, since aggregator methodology varies and listing-count figures for the market ranged from the low hundreds to over 500 depending on source and whether long-term rentals were filtered out. On the management side, we found no national-brand footprint in Livingston, but the market isn't a blank slate of small independents either , it's anchored by one dominant regional incumbent: Mountain Home Montana, which self-describes as Southwest Montana's largest vacation rental company (100-plus properties, locally owned, 25-plus years in business), with listings spanning Livingston, Paradise Valley, Bozeman, Big Sky, and Ennis. Alongside that incumbent sit two smaller independents: Key Montana (formerly Turn Key, serving Livingston and Paradise Valley homeowners since 2002) and Stay Montana (headquartered in Big Sky with a satellite office serving the Bozeman-Livingston-Paradise Valley corridor, managing 100-plus properties statewide).

None of the three is Vacasa, Evolve, or Casago at national scale, but Mountain Home in particular is a sizable regional player, not a boutique operator , that distinction matters for how an independent operator should expect to compete. Evolve, the national hybrid-service platform, does have individual listings in Livingston, which is worth noting since Evolve's light-touch model shows up in nearly every US market and shouldn't be read as evidence of full-service national competition. Net: Livingston has no national-PM footprint, but it is organized around a dominant local/regional incumbent, not a fragmented field of hyper-local operators.

Regulatory status , VERIFY FEE DIRECTLY WITH THE CITY:Livingston has adopted its short-term rental ordinance. On November 4, 2025, commissioners voted unanimously to pass thefirst readingof an STR ordinance requiring all operators to obtain an annually renewed permit. OnDecember 2, 2025, the City Commission adopted the ordinance 4-1, with Commissioner Torrey Lyons casting the sole dissenting vote, as part of a broader new zoning code. The ordinance splits operators intoType 1(owner-occupied, owner present during the stay) andType 2(non-owner-occupied, with a primary local contact required within a 45-minute drive) , both subject to the same permitting requirements. A safety inspection (smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, adequate egress) is required before initial permit issuance, and STRs are allowed in all zones except Light Industrial, Capital Facilities, and Planned Unit Developments. Local coverage framed the push explicitly as a housing-availability response, consistent with the pattern seen across Montana's mountain towns.

Montana law requires the code to take effect roughly 30 days after adoption, putting Livingston's STR ordinance into force aroundJanuary 1, 2026. The annual permit fee amount was explicitly left undetermined at adoption , reporting confirms a "base annual fee" exists but not a dollar figure.Flag for direct verification:anyone evaluating a Livingston acquisition should call the city clerk's office directly to confirm the current fee schedule, permit application process, and whether any registration deadline or backlog is in effect, since the fee was still unresolved as of publication.

Red Lodge: The Institutional Counterpoint

If Livingston is the independent-market story, Red Lodge is its opposite number , a smaller town that has already been through its regulatory fight and already has national property managers competing for inventory. That contrast is the most useful thing this report can tell an operator comparing the two: Livingston just finished writing its rules, Red Lodge has been living under a hard STR cap for three years.

Demand drivers:Red Lodge is a genuine multi-season gateway. It anchors the north end of the Beartooth Highway (routinely called one of the most scenic drives in America, and the classic approach to Yellowstone's northeast entrance), it has its own ski hill in Red Lodge Mountain, and it hosts the Home of Champions Rodeo , one of the longest-running Fourth of July rodeos in the country. That combination gives Red Lodge summer, winter, and a marquee event weekend, which is a stronger seasonality profile on paper than either Livingston or Bigfork.

Regulatory status:The planning brief for this report described a Red Lodge City Council vote "as of June 2026" on capping STRs at 270 units, roughly 50% above an existing base of about 180 registered rentals. Our research found that vote , but it already happened.Red Lodge adopted Ordinance 963 on August 22, 2023, following a council vote that passed 5-1. The ordinance caps short-term rentals at 20% of the city's housing stock, which contemporary local news coverage (KTVQ) calculated at roughly 270 units against a then-existing base of about 180 registered STRs , numbers that line up with the brief almost exactly, just three years earlier than described. The ordinance also establishes a waitlist mechanism: once the cap is reached, new permits are issued only as existing ones expire and go unrenewed. Notably, the city's own review committee reportedly found that STRs were not actually the primary driver of the town's rental-housing shortage, even though the ordinance was originally motivated by that concern , a nuance worth having in your back pocket if you're fielding pushback from a prospective Red Lodge client about local politics.

As of late-2025 reporting, Red Lodge sits at roughly200 registered short-term rentals , about 11% of the city's housing stock, comfortably under the 270-unit (20%) cap, with no waitlist currently in effect. Third-party listing counts for Red Lodge vary widely by source and shouldn't be substituted for that registered-permit figure , Rabbu reported 136 active Airbnb listings with 91% year-over-year growth as of March 2026, while AirDNA's aggregate market page cited 377 "vacation rentals" (a figure that likely includes long-term and non-Airbnb inventory, not a clean STR permit count). Neither aggregator figure is the same as the city's actual registered/permitted STR count, which is the number that matters against the cap.Flag for direct verification:the exact current permit count and waitlist status should still be confirmed directly with the city before use in underwriting, since aggregator data updates faster than municipal registries.

Operator landscape , VERIFY:Red Lodge shows real evidence of national-manager presence, in contrast to Livingston. Evolve confirms 21 active listings in Red Lodge on its own site. Vacasa and Casago are both active in Red Lodge , and as of a merger that closed April 30, 2025, they're now one combined operator family, with Casago (formerly the smaller, lower-commission player at around 18%) having acquired Vacasa (historically 25-35% commission) in an all-cash deal. Treat "Vacasa" and "Casago" as a single ownership group going forward, not two independent competitors. We foundno confirmed Avant Stay presence in Red Lodge or anywhere in Montana, Avant Stay is referenced in some generic industry pricing roundups as a national manager, but no direct evidence (its own listings, local coverage) placed it in this market, and that claim should be treated as unsupported rather than repeated. Grand Welcome is also referenced as active in Montana mountain-town markets generally, though we could not independently confirm its current Red Lodge listing count. Take the "national brands are active here" framing as directionally accurate for Evolve and the Vacasa/Casago group, but treat any specific listing-count claim for Casago/Vacasa or Grand Welcome as unverified until confirmed against their own current inventory pages.

Rate data , flagged discrepancy:Sources disagree meaningfully on Red Lodge performance. AirDNA-sourced figures put the market at roughly 44% occupancy, a $300 average daily rate, and about $33,269 in average monthly revenue. Rabbu's March 2026 data shows a notably lower 25% occupancy and $281 ADR, with $33,269 in average *annual* revenue across 256 listings (AirROI Red Lodge as of 2026-07-31). That's more than a rounding difference , it suggests either a real market softening between data pulls, different definitions of "active listing," or different sampling. Any client-facing ADR/occupancy claim for Red Lodge needs a fresh pull immediately before use.

Whitefish & Flathead Lake: Glacier's Two-Engine Doorstep

Whitefish operates on a fundamentally different demand calendar than either Yellowstone gateway, and that's what makes it worth grouping into this report as the Glacier counterpart. Where Livingston and Red Lodge are essentially summer-dominant with modest shoulder seasons, the Whitefish/Flathead Lake corridor runs on two genuinely distinct demand engines rather than one: asummer engine(Glacier National Park tourism plus Flathead Lake and Whitefish Lake boating season, both running roughly June through September and substantially overlapping rather than layering as separate seasons) and a separatewinter engine(Whitefish Mountain Resort's ski season). That two-engine calendar , rather than a three-season one , is still a real diversification advantage over the Yellowstone gateways, which lean almost entirely on summer.

One geography note worth being precise about: Whitefish town sits on its ownWhitefish Lake, a much smaller lake thanFlathead Lake. Flathead Lake , the larger, better-known lake near Somers, Lakeside, Bigfork, and Polson , sits roughly 40 miles (about 50 minutes) south of Whitefish. These are two different bodies of water and two different submarkets; don't conflate "Whitefish" and "Flathead Lake" as one lakefront market.

Submarket split: This isn't one market, and shouldn't be pitched as one. These are two different bodies of water and two different submarkets; don't conflate "Whitefish" and "Flathead Lake" as one lakefront market. Instead, it covers three towns that sit in Big Sky and Bozeman's shadow geographically but haven't been absorbed into their markets commercially: Livingston (the Paradise Valley anchor town about an hour from Yellowstone's north entrance at Gardiner), Red Lodge (the Beartooth Highway and Yellowstone's northeast entrance), and Whitefish alongside Flathead Lake (Glacier National Park's southwest doorstep).

Whitefish town/resort(on Whitefish Lake) is the highest-ADR, highest-regulation submarket. City data (via The Offer Sheet and Rabbu-adjacent sources) puts Whitefish at roughly 565 active listings, a $446 average daily rate, and average annual revenue near $144,000 , both above the Montana state ADR average of about $437. Listing growth has been aggressive, with one source citing 85% year-over-year growth in active listings, which should temper any "undersupplied" pitch. Regulation here is real: STRs are permitted only within specific zoning districts (WB-3, WRR-1, WRR-2, WRB-1, WRB-2) inside city limits, and a Short-Term Rental Permit plus business registration is required. Several sources noted that investors increasingly look just outside city limits, in unincorporated Flathead County, specifically to avoid Whitefish's tighter zoning.
Bigfork/lakefrontis the Flathead Lake submarket proper , a separate lake roughly 40 miles south of Whitefish, and smaller, more seasonal, and priced high relative to revenue. Rabbu's April 2026 data shows 78 active listings, a $290 ADR, and $45,273 in average annual revenue, but only a 25% occupancy rate against a $1.4 million average home value , a revenue-to-price ratio that warrants real scrutiny before pitching this as an easy investment story. AirDNA's figures for Bigfork run higher (55% occupancy, $397 ADR), another instance of the cross-source occupancy gap that shows up throughout this report. July is by far the strongest month, with average revenue nearly double June's.
Columbia Fallsis the value/access submarket , closer to Glacier's west entrance, cheaper housing stock, and a notably lighter regulatory touch. Data reviewed shows roughly 576 active listings with occupancy figures ranging from 50% to 61% depending on source, an ADR in the mid-$300s, and minimal STR-specific registration requirements, which several sources characterized as an operator-friendly environment relative to Whitefish proper.

Operator landscape:Whitefish is the one submarket in this report with confirmed national-scale property-management presence beyond Evolve-style listing platforms.Casago operates a dedicated Whitefish branch(102 E 2nd St., managing high-end villas, condos, and homes in the greater Whitefish area), and following the April 30, 2025 merger, Casago and Vacasa are now one combined operator family , meaning Vacasa's existing Montana book of business and Casago's Whitefish branch are under common ownership, even though they may still market under both names during the transition. Treat any Whitefish or Red Lodge pitch involving "Vacasa" and "Casago" as involving the same ownership group, not two separate competitors.

Statewide factor that applies to all three Flathead-area submarkets , and to Livingston and Red Lodge too:Montana's 2026 property tax overhaul (HB 231 and SB 542) introduces a tiered structure that specifically penalizes STR-classified properties. Primary residences and qualifying long-term rentals fall into a tiered rate that *starts* at 0.76% on value up to the statewide median (about $378,000 for the 2025-2026 cycle), stepping up to 0.90% and then 1.10% at higher value bands, and only reaching the top 1.90% rate on the portion of value above roughly four times the median (about $1.51 million) , so most primary residences pay well under 1.90% blended. Second homes and short-term rentals, by contrast, are taxed at aflat 1.90% of full assessed value from dollar one, with none of the stepped relief primary residences get. This is a meaningful new cost input for underwriting any Montana STR purchase in 2026 and forward, independent of any local permitting fight , it applies regardless of which of these three markets an operator chooses, and it's a fact worth leading with in investor conversations since it's a hard number, unlike the disputed occupancy figures above.

Livingston vs. Red Lodge: Two Ways Into the Same Park

Put side by side, Livingston and Red Lodge make the case for this report better than either does alone. Both are Yellowstone gateway towns roughly the same drive-time from the park. Both have real brand identity beyond "cheap Airbnb near a national park." But they represent opposite points in the regulatory and competitive lifecycle:. Whitefish operates on a fundamentally different demand calendar than either Yellowstone gateway, and that's what makes it worth grouping into this report as the Glacier counterpart.

Livingston is newly institutional.Its STR ordinance was just adopted (December 2, 2025, effective around January 1, 2026), the permit fee is still undetermined, and no confirmed national property manager has staked a claim , the market is organized around a dominant regional incumbent (Mountain Home Montana) and smaller independents. That's still an opportunity window for a well-positioned independent operator to build direct-booking brand equity while the permit system is new and manager competition hasn't consolidated, though the window is narrower than "pending ordinance" framing would suggest , the rules are live now, not hypothetical.
Red Lodge is post-institutional.It has a hard, three-year-old unit cap currently running well under capacity (roughly 200 registered STRs against a 270-unit ceiling, no active waitlist), and documented national-manager presence (Evolve confirmed at 21 listings, plus the newly combined Vacasa/Casago operator group). The opportunity here isn't "get in before regulation" , that ship sailed in 2023 , it's differentiation within a currently open, competitive supply pool where a strong direct-booking brand matters more, not less, because undifferentiated listings are fighting for guest nights against well-funded national managers.

Neither posture is better in the abstract. They call for different strategies, and any pitch to an operator in either town should be built around which lifecycle stage that specific market is actually in , not a generic "Montana STR" pitch that ignores the difference. We found no confirmed Avant Stay presence in Red Lodge or anywhere in Montana , Avant Stay is referenced in some generic industry pricing roundups as a national manager, but no direct evidence (its own listings, local coverage) placed it in this market, and that claim should be treated as unsupported rather than repeated.

the Crest & Cove intro·local SEO keywords that actually book·the five elements of a converting hero·how to compare STR marketing agencies·Asheville paddling spots worth the drive·Livingston against AirROI $32,534·Whitefish against AirROI $45,273·Destin against AirROI, not leftover year.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Red Lodge's short-term rental cap still under debate in 2026?

No. Red Lodge adopted Ordinance 963 on August 22, 2023, capping STRs at 20% of the city's housing stock, roughly 270 units against a base of about 180 registered rentals at the time. It passed 5-1 and has been in effect for three years, so any claim that a cap vote is 'pending' in 2026 is out of date.

Has Livingston passed its short-term rental ordinance?

The city commission passed the first reading unanimously on November 4, 2025, then adopted the ordinance 4-1 on December 2, 2025, with Commissioner Torrey Lyons dissenting, as part of a broader new zoning code. It takes effect roughly 30 days later, around January 1, 2026. The ordinance establishes a Type 1 (owner-occupied) / Type 2 (non-owner-occupied) permit framework, but the base annual fee amount was left undetermined at adoption.

What's the difference between a Type 1 and Type 2 short-term rental under Livingston's ordinance?

Type 1 covers owner-occupied rentals, where the owner is present during the stay. Type 2 covers non-owner-occupied rentals, which require a designated primary contact located within a 45-minute drive of the property. Both types are subject to the same permitting and inspection requirements under the adopted ordinance.

Why does this report exclude Big Sky and Bozeman?

Both are already largely claimed markets. Big Sky's pricing and resort-scale inventory put it out of reach for most independent operators entering fresh, and Bozeman-proper already has substantial national property-manager presence. This report focuses on three towns, Livingston, Red Lodge, and Whitefish/Flathead Lake, that ride the same national-park demand without that level of saturation.

Are Whitefish, Livingston, and Red Lodge part of the same drive market?

No, and that matters for how you think about them. Whitefish sits about 230 miles from Livingston and Red Lodge, a four-hour-plus drive, so it's not a shared-trip market. Livingston and Red Lodge are closer to each other, about 90 minutes apart, but still serve somewhat different Yellowstone entrances and traveler profiles.

Which of these three markets has the most national property-manager competition?

Red Lodge and Whitefish, roughly evenly. In Red Lodge, Evolve confirms 21 active listings, and Vacasa and Casago, now one combined operator family after their April 30, 2025 merger, are both active. Whitefish has a dedicated Casago branch office serving the greater area. Livingston, by contrast, shows no national-manager footprint at all; it's organized around a dominant regional incumbent, Mountain Home Montana, alongside smaller independents Key Montana and Stay Montana.

How does Montana's 2026 property tax change affect short-term rental investment?

Montana introduced a tiered property tax structure (HB 231/SB 542) in 2026 that taxes second homes and short-term rentals at a flat 1.90% of full assessed value from dollar one. Primary residences and qualifying long-term rentals instead get a tiered rate that starts at 0.76% and only climbs to 1.90% on value above roughly four times the statewide median home value, about $1.51 million, so most primary residences pay a lower blended rate than any STR does. This applies statewide, including in Livingston, Red Lodge, and the Whitefish/Flathead Lake corridor, and should be built into any underwriting math.

What's the biggest data gap in this report that needs verification before making an investment decision?

Occupancy and revenue figures for Red Lodge and Bigfork show significant disagreement between data sources, in Red Lodge's case, a roughly 20-point occupancy gap between AirDNA-sourced (44%) and Rabbu (25%) figures. Anyone underwriting a specific property should pull a fresh, address-level report rather than relying on market-level aggregates from any single third-party source, including this one.

About the Authors

Crest & Cove Creative is a short-term rental marketing agency founded by Thomas Garner and Jacob Mishalanie. We build direct-booking brands, listing optimization systems, and market-specific content strategies for independent STR operators nationwide, including emerging corridors like Montana's Yellowstone and Glacier gateway towns. Unverifiable or unresolved as of this report: (1) Livingston's final short-term rental permit fee amount , the ordinance was adopted December 2, 2025 and takes effect around January 1, 2026, but the fee itself was left undetermined and needs direct confirmation with the city clerk; (2) the precise, current-week registered/permitted STR count in Red Lodge relative to its 270-unit cap (we cite roughly 200 registered STRs, about 11% of housing stock, from late-2025 reporting, but this should.

Sources

Livingston Enterprise, "City takes step toward regulating short-term rental housing," published November 7, 2025 , reports the November 4, 2025 unanimous first-reading vote, Type 1/Type 2 framework, undetermined base fee, and zoning exclusions.livingstonenterprise.com
Livingston Enterprise, "City commissioners adopt new zoning code" , reports the December 2, 2025 final adoption vote (4-1, Commissioner Torrey Lyons dissenting), 30-day effective-date window, and confirms the permit fee amount remained undetermined at adoption.livingstonenterprise.com
City of Livingston, Montana , official site, ordinance and commission records; verify current permit fee directly.livingstonmontana.org
KTVQ, "Red Lodge looking at possible cap on short-term rentals" (2023 coverage) , source for the ~180 existing / 270-unit-cap figures.ktvq.com
Red Lodge City Council meeting record, August 22, 2023 , Ordinance 963 final vote (5-1 passage).cityofredlodge.net
City of Red Lodge, "Short Term Rental Compliance" , current ordinance summary, 20%-of-housing-stock cap and waitlist mechanism.cityofredlodge.net
Awning, Livingston, Montana Airbnb Market Data , occupancy/ADR figures cited via AirDNA.CORRECTION NEEDED:verify listing-count figures directly with AirDNA before reuse; aggregator page results were inconsistent on total active listings.awning.com
Key Montana, "About" page , confirms operating in Livingston/Paradise Valley since 2002 (formerly Turn Key).keymontana.com
Mountain Home Montana , confirms 25+ years operating, self-described as Southwest Montana's largest vacation rental company, active in Livingston/Paradise Valley.mountain-home.com
Stay Montana , confirms Big Sky HQ with satellite office serving Bozeman-Livingston-Paradise Valley corridor.staymontana.com
Evolve, Red Lodge vacation rental listings , confirms 21 active Red Lodge listings.evolve.com
Vacasa, Inc. SEC filings (DEFM14A) and Casago press release , confirm the Vacasa-Casago merger closed at 11:59 PM ET on April 30, 2025, an all-cash deal at $5.30/share.sec.gov,casago.com
Casago, "Introducing the Whitefish, Montana Branch" and Whitefish branch contact page , confirms a dedicated Whitefish office at 102 E 2nd St. Suite 5.casago.com
Rabbu, Red Lodge and Bigfork Airbnb market data (cited as of March/April 2026) , occupancy, ADR, and listing-growth figures;FLAGGEDas materially inconsistent with AirDNA-sourced figures for the same markets.rabbu.com
AirDNA Market Minder, Red Lodge and Livingston overview pages , alternate occupancy/ADR figures;FLAGGEDdiscrepancy against Rabbu data.airdna.co
The Offer Sheet, "Whitefish MT Short Term Rental Regulations" , listing count, ADR, revenue, and zoning-district permitting detail for Whitefish.local.theoffersheet.com
City of Whitefish, "Short-Term Rental" official page , permit and business registration requirement, zoning districts.cityofwhitefish.gov
Sky Run, "Navigating Montana's New Property Tax Rules," and Montana State University Ag EconMT / Montana Association of Counties (HB 231 & SB 542 summary) , source for the 2026 tiered property tax structure (0.76% to 1.90% stepped for primary residences/long-term rentals based on the $378,000 statewide median, vs. flat 1.90% for STRs/second homes from dollar one).skyrun.com,mtcounties.org
Distance-cities.com / Travelmath, Livingston-to-Gardiner mileage , confirms roughly 53-54 miles via US-89 through Paradise Valley, about 52 minutes' drive.distance-cities.com
Rabbu, Columbia Falls Airbnb market data , listing count, occupancy, ADR; cross-referenced against a second Rabbu-adjacent figure set with a notable occupancy discrepancy (49.9% vs. 61%).rabbu.com

Unverifiable or unresolved as of this report:(1) Livingston's final short-term rental permit fee amount , the ordinance was adopted December 2, 2025 and takes effect around January 1, 2026, but the fee itself was left undetermined and needs direct confirmation with the city clerk; (2) the precise, current-week registered/permitted STR count in Red Lodge relative to its 270-unit cap (we cite roughly 200 registered STRs, about 11% of housing stock, from late-2025 reporting, but this should be re-confirmed against the city's live registry before underwriting); (3) exact current active-listing counts for the combined Vacasa/Casago operator group and for Grand Welcome specifically within Red Lodge and Whitefish; (4) the true current occupancy rate for Red Lodge and Bigfork, given the material gap between AirDNA- and Rabbu-sourced figures. All four should be confirmed with primary sources (city offices, direct AirDNA/Rabbu account pulls, or direct outreach to the named property managers) before use in any client-facing pitch or investment analysis.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

Livingston, Red Lodge, and Whitefish sit at three different regulatory stages: one has no national manager, one has run under an STR cap for three years, one has a dedicated Casago branch. One blended Montana pitch can't cover all three.

We help Livingston, Red Lodge, and Whitefish hosts write listing copy that matches which lifecycle stage their town is actually in, from wide-open to capped and Casago-managed, instead of a generic gateway-town pitch.

Reach out at crestcove.co or (256) 998-7502.