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Place dossier plate
SheetMT-DEER-LODGE-MT · Deer Lodge, MT 3,035 pop · income 25th pct · 2 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 Deer Lodge
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Deer Lodge on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bamberg · lowest
27,614
Bamberg · lowest
27,614 median HH income
17.7% of the leader · rank #1
Los Alamos · near
53,673
Los Alamos · near
53,673 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #2
Deer Lodge · this city
53,676
Deer Lodge · this city
53,676 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #3
Myrtle Beach · near
53,679
Myrtle Beach · near
53,679 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #4
Fredericktown · near
53,681
Fredericktown · near
53,681 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #5
Osakis · near
53,684
Osakis · near
53,684 median HH income
34.4% of the leader · rank #6
Windermere · highest
156,042
Windermere · highest
156,042 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 Deer Lodge 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: 3,035.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Deer Lodge - the verdict
Deer Lodge ranks in the 25th percentile for household income and the 55th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
25th
percentile, household income
42nd
percentile, home value
61st
percentile, median rent
55th
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: Deer Lodge, MT
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 3,035 residents in Deer Lodge, a small town within Montana. Deer Lodge households earn a median of $53,676 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.5%. Deer Lodge's housing stock carries a median value of $196,400, and the median resident age is 53.2 years. Educational attainment runs 21.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 48.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 37 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 61% from five years earlier. Deer Lodge reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1220.3 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 40.3°F with 14.6 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 Deer Lodge'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 reported crime to comparison shortlist to schools and households to climate and hazard context to housing and income to population change to work and mobility to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Deer Lodge, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Deer Lodge?
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 1220.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 46% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Deer Lodge?
Within Montana, the closest population matches are Cut Bank (3,040 residents, $55,848 income); Libby (2,948 residents, $39,261 income); Shelby (3,129 residents, $53,357 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Shark River Hills, NJ (3,035 residents); Port Angeles East, WA (3,035 residents); Dadeville, AL (3,034 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.
What does the education layer cover for Deer Lodge?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 21.9% 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.
What can 2 Census tracts reveal inside Deer Lodge?
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.
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 Deer Lodge?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 40.3°F, with 14.6 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.
Mean temperature
40.3°F
Annual precipitation
14.6 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Deer Lodge?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.5%, 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
$53,676
Home value
$196,400
Value / income
3.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is Deer Lodge growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 37 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+0.0%
2025 estimate
3,025
2020 estimate
3,024
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Deer Lodge?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 88.1%. 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
3.7%
Drive alone
88.1%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,109 workers age 16+.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
D
City profile score · Deer Lodge, MT
45/100
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.
Poverty rate A-
2.5%
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.
Bachelor's+ share D
21.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$53,676
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
462 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Deer Lodge profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 82/100 (A-) · 2.5%
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Bachelor's+ share: 40/100 (D) · 21.9%
Household income: 25/100 (F) · $53,676
Violent crime: 18/100 (F) · 462 /100k
Where Deer Lodge sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Deer Lodge'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 - Deer Lodge highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Deer Lodge, MT (this city): home $196,400, crime 1,220/100k
Dadeville, AL : home $163,500, crime 2,293/100k
Bamberg, SC : home $129,500, crime 8,010/100k
Cut Bank, MT : home $161,400, crime 5,692/100k
Libby, MT : home $218,500, crime 907/100k
Glasgow, MT : home $206,000, crime 1,606/100k
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 Deer Lodge compare to other US cities?
Deer Lodge measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income25% higher than other cities
Home value42% pricier than other cities
Median rent61% pricier than other cities
Safety55% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Montana alone, Deer Lodge ranks #19 of 39 Montana cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Deer Lodge 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 Deer Lodge near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Deer Lodge ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Deer Lodge only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#176 of 282
38th percentile in Montana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Median Home Value
#169 of 279
39th percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#211 of 315
33rd percentile in Montana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#157 of 317
50th 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
25th percentile nationally for median household income · 55th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Deer Lodge's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Deer Lodge'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 Deer Lodge's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$196,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 58% 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
Deer Lodge's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,572 of 15,516
More affordable than 38% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,638 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.7×, Deer Lodge sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,572 of 15,516 and #7,638 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
$53,676Deer Lodge, MT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Deer Lodge, 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 Deer Lodge, MT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)48.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,035
Median Income
$53,676
Median Home Value
$196,400
Median Age
53.2
Poverty Rate
2.5%
Labor force participation
48.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1220.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
461.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
758.6
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
40.3°F
Annual Precipitation
14.6"
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
Deer Lodge's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,024 residents
2021
3,049 residents
2022
3,039 residents
2023
3,020 residents
2024
3,007 residents
2025
3,025 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
37
housing units authorized
Single-Family
12
detached homes
Multifamily
25
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
12.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
23
2
21
$3.2M
2020
6
2
4
$1.1M
2021
2
2
0
$0.6M
2022
6
6
0
$2.0M
2023
11
11
0
$4.0M
2024
37
12
25
$9.5M
Permit volume increased 61% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
88.1%
Carpool
3.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.1%
Work from Home
3.7%
Other
2.0%
Based on 1,109 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 Deer Lodge. 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 Deer Lodge 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 Deer Lodge sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Deer Lodge 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.