Last updated: October 22, 2026
MontanaHelp exists to give people moving to or living in Montana clear, accurate, practical information. This page explains how our guides are made, how we use AI tools, who “Cole Bennett” is, and what we do when something needs fixing.
How we research
Every guide starts with official and public sources, not other blogs. Depending on the topic, that includes:
- The U.S. Census Bureau for population, income and housing data
- The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for jobs, wages and prices
- The Montana Department of Revenue, the Montana Motor Vehicle Division and the Montana Code Annotated for taxes, fees and rules
- NOAA for weather and climate data
- Other public data, such as HUD and Zillow Research for rents and home values, and city, county and state agency websites
We link to the sources we use so you can check the numbers yourself. When a figure is an estimate, comes from a third party, or is older than we’d like, we say so. If we can’t verify something, we leave it out rather than guess.
How we use AI
We want to be upfront about this: MontanaHelp uses AI tools to help research and draft its guides. AI helps us gather and organize public data, summarize official documents and write first drafts.
AI doesn’t get the final word. A person runs our editorial process and is responsible for it. Before each batch of guides is published, that person spot-checks one article from the batch against its linked sources and removes anything the sources don’t support. Not every article gets an individual human review. AI tools can make mistakes, which is why we cite our sources and why we welcome corrections.
Who “Cole Bennett” is
“Cole Bennett” is a pen name used by the MontanaHelp editorial team. It isn’t a real person’s name, and we don’t claim credentials, personal experiences or a life story for it. Guides published under that name follow the research and review process on this page.
Updates and corrections
- Every guide shows the date it was last updated.
- We review guides when tax rates, fees, laws or major data sources change, and we update the figures and the date when we do.
- If you spot an error, please tell us through our contact page. We check each report against the sources and fix confirmed errors as quickly as we can. When a correction changes a key fact or number, we note it on the page.
Independence, affiliates and ads
MontanaHelp may earn money from affiliate links and display ads. That never decides what we cover or what our guides say. We don’t accept payment to include, rank or praise a company. If we ever publish sponsored content, it will be clearly labeled as sponsored. Read our Affiliate Disclosure for the details.
Photos
We use freely licensed photos. Right now they all come from Wikimedia Commons. If we ever use a photo on other terms, such as with a photographer’s permission, its credit will say so. We credit each photographer and link to the original file and its license on our Photo Credits page. Photos are resized for the web but otherwise not changed, unless the credit says otherwise. If you believe a photo is credited incorrectly, please let us know.
General information only
Our guides are general information, not tax, legal, financial or real estate advice. Before making a big decision, check the linked official sources or talk with a qualified professional.