WaterQ

Billings, MT vs Great Falls, MT

Which City Has Better Water Quality?

When comparing tap water quality between Billings, MT and Great Falls, MT, Billings currently holds a narrow 4-point edge in average WaterQ score, with a score of 97 out of 100 versus 93 for Great Falls. Both cities currently carry an A grade overall. A WaterQ score reflects an aggregate of EPA-reported violations, monitoring data, and compliance history across all public water systems serving each city, so a higher score generally indicates fewer recent violations and a stronger compliance record, though it does not guarantee that every tap in the city tests identically.

Billings, MT is the larger of the two, with 73,320 more residents than Great Falls, yet both cities are served by the same number of public water systems (5). This means the difference in population is handled by systems of different scale rather than a different count of utilities — larger systems generally serve more connections and may have more monitoring requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

For residents of either Billings or Great Falls, the most useful next step is to look up the specific water system that serves your address, since city-wide averages combine results from every system in the area. Visit the Billings or Great Falls city pages below for a breakdown of local systems, recent violations, and contaminant-specific data, or browse WaterQ's contaminants directory to learn what each measured substance means for health.

Detailed Comparison

Metric Billings Great Falls
Water Quality Score 97 93
Grade A A
Water Systems 5 5
Population 140,599 67,279
County
State MT MT

Analysis

Billings has 4 points higher score
Marginal difference
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Population Difference
Billings has 0.1M more people
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More Water Systems
Great Falls has 0 more system(s)
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Frequently asked questions

Which city has better tap water quality: Billings or Great Falls?

Billings currently has the higher WaterQ score (97/100). Check each city page for system-level details and recent violations.

How are Billings and Great Falls water scores calculated?

WaterQ scores are based on EPA-reported drinking water data, including contaminant detections, violations, and compliance records across local systems.

Where can I view full reports for Billings and Great Falls?

Use the city detail pages to see water systems, score breakdowns, and trend context for Billings, MT and Great Falls, MT.