Montana has absolutely transformed over the last 50 years. Its population has increased by 64%, from 694,409 in 1970 to 1,137,233 in 2024. Its economy has dramatically changed and the level of wealth has surged. And a good amount of the growth in wealth occurred since the pandemic as high-income remote workers relocated to Big Sky Country.
This study analyzed 497 cities — what the Census Bureau designates as “places” — in Montana that had complete data from the Census Bureau, in terms of their median household income, mean (average) household income, median home value, and median property taxes paid per year, to come up with a list of the 15 richest cities in the state.
Read on to find out what the richest city in Montana is, plus the top 15 wealthiest cities in the state overall.
What Are the Richest Cities in Montana?
In order to compile this list of the richest cities in Montana, key financial data was sourced from the Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey. Wielding these datasets, a four-factor scoring system was put together to help identify the wealthiest cities in Montana:
- Median household income
- Mean (average) household income
- Median home value
- Median property taxes paid
You should be aware of a few oddities that the Census Bureau does with its data. For a number of factors, the Census figures have upper limits, so there’s no exact value for certain factors. For example, for median household income, the Census Bureau has an upper limit of “$250,000+”. For median home value, the upper limit is “$2,000,000+”. For median property taxes paid, the upper limit is “$10,000+”. For these reasons, the mean household income (which is the same as average household income) dataset is crucial because the Census Bureau has exact figures for it. All four of these metrics were scored, added up, and then ranked by the cities’ combined scores.
Another aspect of the Census to point out, and is particularly relevant to Montana, is the Census-designated place — CDP. The Census, more or less, treats CDPs as cities — their terminology is “place” — and so will this list of the richest cities in Montana. But if you see cities on this list that you see as, say, neighborhoods, you’re not wrong; they just happen to be treated as cities by the Census Bureau.
You’ll find a table detailing the top 15 richest cities in Montana and their respective dollar figures for each metric, below:
The No. 1 richest city in Montana in this ranking is Gallatin River Ranch, an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Gallatin County. This is a rather small place, with only 78 households, the homes of which are quite large. Incomes here are very high. The median household income is over $250,000. And it’s actually higher than the average household income, which is $236,505. Well over half of households earn $200,000 or more per year. The median home value is nearly $1.4 million. And median property taxes are the highest in the state, at $7,770 per household.
The No. 2 richest place in Montana in this ranking is Rollins, an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Lake County, on the western shores of Flathead Lake. Like many towns on lakefronts, it has beautiful homes with plenty of boats. It’s a small place with just 45 households in total. Rollins has one of the highest median incomes in the state, at $180,197. The average household income is $229,329. The median home value here is over $1.2 million. The median property taxes paid per household is $5,776, which is much higher than the average for the state.
The third richest place in Montana is South Hills, a community of 226 households. The top three industries by employment are Public Administration (22.8% of the workforce), which is fitting because the state capital of Helena is just north; Construction (22.1% of the workforce); and Health care 7 Social Assistance (21.1%). The average household income here, $240,545, is well above the median household income of $160,417. Roughly 70% of households earn $150,000 or more a year. The median home value, though, is lower than the first two cities on this list, at $652,400. Property taxes are still on the high side, the median being $4,723 paid per household.
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