Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetMT-BROADUS-MT · Broadus, MT 426 pop · income 27th pct · 1 tracts
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 Broadus
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Broadus on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Fort Garland · lowest
29,750
Fort Garland · lowest
29,750 median HH income
17.2% of the leader · rank #1
Broadus · this city
54,792
Broadus · this city
54,792 median HH income
31.6% of the leader · rank #2
Tombstone · near
54,792
Tombstone · near
54,792 median HH income
31.6% of the leader · rank #3
Falls · near
54,792
Falls · near
54,792 median HH income
31.6% of the leader · rank #4
Remsen · near
54,792
Remsen · near
54,792 median HH income
31.6% of the leader · rank #5
Maupin · near
54,792
Maupin · near
54,792 median HH income
31.6% of the leader · rank #6
Custer Park · highest
173,274
Custer Park · highest
173,274 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 Broadus 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: 426.
Nationally, Broadus sits in the 27th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
27th
percentile, household income
29th
percentile, home value
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: Broadus, MT
426 people live in Broadus, Montana - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Broadus report a median income of $54,792 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.9%. Home values in Broadus run a median of $155,900, and the median resident age is 48.3 years. Educational attainment runs 12.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 70.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA puts Broadus's yearly average temperature at 48.2°F with 14.9 inches of precipitation per year.
Living costs in Montana run below the national norm: the state registers 94.6 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,336 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Montana run around $175, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 33.3 out of 100 (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Broadus'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 climate and hazard context to within-city variation to schools and households to comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Broadus, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What physical conditions frame life in Broadus?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 48.2°F, with 14.9 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Montana is 33.3 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 12.1% 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.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Broadus?
Within Montana, the closest population matches are Terry (430 residents, $36,154 income); Kerr (432 residents, $46,944 income); Lindisfarne (434 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Marshall, AK (426 residents); Fort Garland, CO (426 residents); Custer Park, IL (426 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.
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.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Broadus?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Household income
$54,792
Home value
$155,900
Value / income
2.8×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Broadus?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 61.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
3.1%
Drive alone
61.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 254 workers age 16+.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +21 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.6% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+4.6%
2025 estimate
477
2020 estimate
456
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
D
City profile score · Broadus, MT
47/100
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.
Poverty rate B+
2.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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.
Household income F
$54,792
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
12.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Broadus profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 79/100 (B+) · 2.9%
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Household income: 27/100 (F) · $54,792
Bachelor's+ share: 12/100 (F) · 12.1%
How does Broadus compare to other US cities?
Broadus measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income27% higher than other cities
Home value29% pricier 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 Broadus 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 Broadus near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Broadus ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Broadus only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#170 of 282
40th percentile in Montana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Median Home Value
#212 of 279
24th percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#206 of 315
34th percentile in Montana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#259 of 317
18th 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
27th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Broadus's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$155,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 71% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Broadus's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,830 of 15,516
More affordable than 62% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,036 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.8×, Broadus sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,830 of 15,516 and #5,036 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$54,792Broadus, MT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Broadus, 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 Broadus, MT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)12.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)70.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
426
Median Income
$54,792
Median Home Value
$155,900
Median Age
48.3
Poverty Rate
2.9%
Labor force participation
70.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
12.1%
Climate
Avg Temperature
48.2°F
Annual Precipitation
14.9"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Broadus's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
456 residents
2021
460 residents
2022
464 residents
2023
468 residents
2024
472 residents
2025
477 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
61.4%
Carpool
26.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
9.1%
Work from Home
3.1%
Based on 254 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 Broadus. 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 Broadus 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 Broadus sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Broadus 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.