Off-Grid Living in Hill County, Montana

I'll be upfront: Hill County, Montana is one of those places where the honest answer to "can I do this off-grid?" is "it depends on exactly where your land sits." There's no single countywide zoning code covering every acre, so the rules I found split sharply between land inside the Hill County-City Planning Area (basically around Havre), land inside Havre's city limits, and everything else in the county.

Zoning: The Hill County Planning Office administers zoning, subdivision, floodplain, and growth-policy regulations, but only within the designated City-County Planning area near Havre. If your parcel is out in the county's more remote stretches, I could not confirm from official sources whether county zoning applies to you at all. Don't assume "unregulated" though, call the Planning Office and ask about your specific parcel.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs: I found no Hill-County-specific rule distinguishing tiny homes or RVs from standard dwellings. Absent a local rule, you're likely looking at Montana's statewide baseline, but that's not confirmed for this county specifically.

Building codes: Inside Havre city limits, the city has adopted the 2021 IRC with Montana amendments, enforced under the city's building code. Outside city limits, whether Hill County requires building permits for single-family homes (Montana law otherwise exempts many single-family dwellings from state permitting) is not confirmed. Ask the Hill County Planning Office directly.

Septic: The Hill County Health Department's Environmental Health division issues Individual Sewage Permits, following Montana DEQ's statewide minimum standards for on-site wastewater. This applies countywide, regardless of zoning status. Composting toilets aren't separately addressed on the county's page I found.

Greywater and rainwater: No Hill County ordinance turned up for either. That means you're likely under Montana's general baseline (rainwater collection generally allowed, greywater more restricted), but I couldn't confirm county-specific treatment, so check with Environmental Health before you build a greywater system.

Wells: Water rights and exempt wells are a state matter, run through Montana DNRC, not the county. An exempt well is capped at 10 acre-feet a year and 35 gallons per minute; starting January 1, 2026, you'll need to file a Notice of Intent with DNRC before using an exempt well. The county Health Department may tie well testing to septic permits, as some other Montana counties do, but I couldn't confirm that Hill County does this specifically.

Utility disconnection: No ordinance found requiring or forbidding living off-grid without utility hookups. Practically, though, your septic and well permitting paperwork functions as the de facto documentation of your water/wastewater plan.

Bottom line: call before you buy or build. The gaps in what's publicly confirmed here are real, and a five-minute call to the Planning Office or Health Department will save you a lot of guessing.