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Place dossier plate
SheetMT-CARTER-MT · Carter, MT 118 pop · income 3rd 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 Carter
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Carter on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Olney · lowest
19,875
Olney · lowest
19,875 median HH income
10.5% of the leader · rank #1
Selma · near
32,184
Selma · near
32,184 median HH income
17.1% of the leader · rank #2
Carter · this city
32,188
Carter · this city
32,188 median HH income
17.1% of the leader · rank #3
French Gulch · near
32,188
French Gulch · near
32,188 median HH income
17.1% of the leader · rank #4
Chelsea · near
32,188
Chelsea · near
32,188 median HH income
17.1% of the leader · rank #5
Whitmire · near
32,188
Whitmire · near
32,188 median HH income
17.1% of the leader · rank #6
Makena · highest
188,750
Makena · highest
188,750 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 Carter 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: 118.
Nationally, Carter sits in the 3rd percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
3rd
percentile, household income
12th
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: Carter, MT
118 people live in Carter, Montana - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Carter households earn a median of $32,188 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 10.0%. Typical homes in Carter are valued around $107,500, and the median resident age is 25.2 years. 4.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 38.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA puts Carter's yearly average temperature at 43.9°F with 13.8 inches of precipitation per year and 42.5 inches of snowfall.
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,336 monthly. 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 Carter'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 housing and income to schools and households to climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Carter, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Carter?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 4.8% 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 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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 43.9°F, with 13.8 inches of precipitation and 42.5 inches of annual snowfall. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Carter?
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 Springhill (118 residents, $76,304 income); Wisdom (117 residents, $58,370 income); Old Agency (114 residents, $33,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Sweet Water, AZ (118 residents); Jericho, AR (118 residents); Maysville, AR (118 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Carter?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 6.3%. 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. 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.
Drive alone
6.3%
Work from home
0.0%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 32 workers age 16+.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 10.0% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.6 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
F
City profile score · Carter, MT
27/100
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.
Poverty rate D
10.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$32,188
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
4.8%
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).
Carter profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Poverty rate: 40/100 (D) · 10.0%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $32,188
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 4.8%
How does Carter compare to other US cities?
Here's how Carter stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income3% higher than other cities
Home value12% 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 Carter 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 Carter near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Carter ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Carter only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#270 of 282
4th percentile in Montana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Median Home Value
#250 of 279
10th percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#113 of 315
64th percentile in Montana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#294 of 317
7th 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
3rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Carter's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$107,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 88% 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
Carter's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,298 of 15,516
More affordable than 47% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,770 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.3×, Carter sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,298 of 15,516 and #6,770 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$32,188Carter, MT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Carter, 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 Carter, MT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)4.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)38.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
118
Median Income
$32,188
Median Home Value
$107,500
Median Age
25.2
Poverty Rate
10.0%
Labor force participation
38.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
4.8%
Climate
Avg Temperature
43.9°F
Annual Precipitation
13.8"
Annual Snowfall
42.5"
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
6.3%
Carpool
93.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 32 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 Carter. 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 Carter 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 Carter sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Carter 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.