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Place dossier plate
SheetMT-ARLEE-MT · Arlee, MT 651 pop · income 24th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Arlee
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Arlee on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Margaretville · lowest
36,411
Margaretville · lowest
36,411 median HH income
21.1% of the leader · rank #1
Lecanto · near
52,996
Lecanto · near
52,996 median HH income
30.8% of the leader · rank #2
Red Oak · near
52,996
Red Oak · near
52,996 median HH income
30.8% of the leader · rank #3
Arlee · this city
53,000
Arlee · this city
53,000 median HH income
30.8% of the leader · rank #4
Pawlet · near
53,000
Pawlet · near
53,000 median HH income
30.8% of the leader · rank #5
Alton · near
53,005
Alton · near
53,005 median HH income
30.8% of the leader · rank #6
Amagansett · highest
172,241
Amagansett · highest
172,241 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Arlee on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 651.
Nationally, Arlee sits in the 24th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
24th
percentile, household income
61st
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Arlee, MT
Arlee is a small town in Montana, home to 651 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Arlee households earn a median of $53,000 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 25.3%. The median resident age is 34.9 years. 29.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 55.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 3 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Living costs in Montana run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Montana scores 94.6 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,336 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Montana's average monthly utility costs around $175 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 33.3 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Arlee's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from work and mobility to schools and households to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Arlee, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Arlee?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 40.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 29.0% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Which cities make useful reference points for Arlee?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Within Montana, the closest population matches are Black Eagle (654 residents, $55,588 income); Cascade (654 residents, $48,750 income); Poplar (655 residents, $45,104 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Addison, AL (651 residents); Fountain Lake, AR (651 residents); Camden, IN (651 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Low income · poverty 25.3% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.6 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
F
City profile score · Arlee, MT
36/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living B-
94.6 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share C
29.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$53,000
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
25.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Arlee profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Bachelor's+ share: 56/100 (C) · 29.0%
Household income: 24/100 (F) · $53,000
Poverty rate: 6/100 (F) · 25.3%
How does Arlee compare to other US cities?
Arlee measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income24% higher than other cities
Median rent61% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Arlee against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Montana only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Montana-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Arlee near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Arlee ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Arlee only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#181 of 282
36th percentile in Montana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#43 of 315
86th percentile in Montana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#100 of 317
68th percentile in Montana
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Montana only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
24th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$53,000Arlee, MT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Arlee, MT median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Arlee, MT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)29.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)25.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
651
Median Income
$53,000
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
34.9
Poverty Rate
25.3%
Labor force participation
55.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
29.0%
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
40.9%
Carpool
15.1%
Public Transit
3.9%
Walk
13.1%
Work from Home
27.0%
Based on 259 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Montana statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $175
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Montana at $175 (electricity about $80 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are Montana statewide averages, not a meter reading for Arlee. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Montana's BEA cost-of-living index is 94.6 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Arlee is $1,336/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Montana statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 33.3 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Montana statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Arlee sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Arlee compares to similar-size Montana cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.