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Place dossier plate
SheetMT-COLUMBUS-MT · Columbus, MT 1,925 pop · income 39th pct · 3 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 Columbus
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Columbus on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lame Deer · lowest
26,364
Lame Deer · lowest
26,364 median HH income
19.6% of the leader · rank #1
Columbus · this city
62,500
Columbus · this city
62,500 median HH income
46.4% of the leader · rank #2
Industry · near
62,500
Industry · near
62,500 median HH income
46.4% of the leader · rank #3
Buncombe · near
62,500
Buncombe · near
62,500 median HH income
46.4% of the leader · rank #4
Colchester · near
62,500
Colchester · near
62,500 median HH income
46.4% of the leader · rank #5
Shipman · near
62,500
Shipman · near
62,500 median HH income
46.4% of the leader · rank #6
Allentown · highest
134,583
Allentown · highest
134,583 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Columbus on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 1,925.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Columbus - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Columbus lands in the 39th percentile for household income and the 28th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
39th
percentile, household income
58th
percentile, home value
61st
percentile, median rent
28th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Columbus, MT
1,925 people live in Columbus, Montana - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $62,500 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 11.9%. Typical homes in Columbus are valued around $264,000, and the median resident age is 46.0 years. Educational attainment runs 20.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 59.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Columbus (No Permits), per Census BPS data. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 2188.6 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, near the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 44.4°F with 15.5 inches of precipitation per year and 47.6 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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,336 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $175 across Montana, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Columbus'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 population change to work and mobility to climate and hazard context to reported crime to housing and income to within-city variation 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 Columbus, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Population change
Is Columbus growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 +99 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What does the journey to work look like in Columbus?
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 78.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Columbus?
Within Montana, the closest population matches are Lame Deer (1,939 residents, $26,364 income); Malta (1,902 residents, $59,449 income); Ronan (1,962 residents, $41,429 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Billington Heights, NY (1,925 residents); Mountain View Ranches, AZ (1,924 residents); Allentown, NJ (1,926 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Columbus?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 44.4°F, with 15.5 inches of precipitation and 47.6 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.
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.
Mean temperature
44.4°F
Annual precipitation
15.5 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
33.3
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Columbus?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2188.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 4% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1928.1
Violent rate
260.6
Total reported rate
2188.6
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Columbus?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.9%, 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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
Household income
$62,500
Home value
$264,000
Value / income
4.2×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 20.6% 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.
Matched public schools
3
Bachelor's degree+
20.6%
Poverty estimate
11.9%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 11.9% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.6 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
D
City profile score · Columbus, MT
42/100
5 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.
Violent crime F
261 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$62,500
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
20.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Columbus profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Violent crime: 39/100 (F) · 261 /100k
Household income: 38/100 (F) · $62,500
Bachelor's+ share: 36/100 (F) · 20.6%
Poverty rate: 32/100 (F) · 11.9%
Where Columbus sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Columbus's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Columbus highlighted among 24 peers.Read the chart values
Columbus, MT (this city): home $264,000, crime 2,189/100k
Allentown, NJ : home $397,100, crime 697/100k
Tracy City, TN : home $116,000, crime 1,936/100k
East Helena, MT : home $254,400, crime 1,813/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Columbus compare to other US cities?
Here's how Columbus stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income39% higher than other cities
Home value58% pricier than other cities
Median rent61% pricier than other cities
Safety28% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Montana, Columbus ranks #27 of 39 Montana cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Columbus 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 Columbus near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Columbus ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Columbus only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#131 of 282
54th percentile in Montana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Median Home Value
#114 of 279
59th percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#92 of 315
70th percentile in Montana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#174 of 317
45th 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
39th percentile nationally for median household income · 28th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Columbus's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Columbus's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Columbus's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$264,00042nd percentilemore affordable than 42% 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
Columbus's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,301 of 15,516
More affordable than 27% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,751 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.2×, Columbus sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,301 of 15,516 and #8,751 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
$62,500Columbus, MT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Columbus, 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 Columbus, MT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,925
Median Income
$62,500
Median Home Value
$264,000
Median Age
46.0
Poverty Rate
11.9%
Labor force participation
59.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2188.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
260.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1928.1
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
44.4°F
Annual Precipitation
15.5"
Annual Snowfall
47.6"
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
Columbus's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,865 residents
2021
1,870 residents
2022
1,905 residents
2023
1,915 residents
2024
1,960 residents
2025
1,964 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
3
3
0
$1.1M
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
78.8%
Carpool
8.4%
Public Transit
5.2%
Walk
3.9%
Work from Home
3.4%
Based on 964 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 Columbus. 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 Columbus 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 Columbus sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Columbus 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, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.