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Place dossier plate
SheetMT-EAST-HELENA-MT · East Helena, MT 1,855 pop · income 25th 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 East Helena
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest East Helena 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
42.2% of the leader · rank #1
Jackson · near
53,609
Jackson · near
53,609 median HH income
85.8% of the leader · rank #2
East Helena · this city
53,611
East Helena · this city
53,611 median HH income
85.8% of the leader · rank #3
Villard · near
53,611
Villard · near
53,611 median HH income
85.8% of the leader · rank #4
Marion · near
53,611
Marion · near
53,611 median HH income
85.8% of the leader · rank #5
Andrews · near
53,611
Andrews · near
53,611 median HH income
85.8% of the leader · rank #6
Columbus · highest
62,500
Columbus · highest
62,500 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 East Helena 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: 1,855.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
East Helena - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, East Helena lands in the 25th percentile for household income and the 37th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
25th
percentile, household income
57th
percentile, home value
61st
percentile, median rent
37th
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: East Helena, MT
1,855 people live in East Helena, Montana - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in East Helena report a median income of $53,611 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 13.3%. Typical homes in East Helena are valued around $254,400, and the median resident age is 35.9 years. Educational attainment runs 21.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 65.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 55 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Active). East Helena reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1813.2 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. 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. 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 East Helena'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 schools and households to housing and income to reported crime to population change to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For East Helena, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for East Helena?
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 5 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.
How far does income reach against housing in East Helena?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What can the FBI record say about safety in East Helena?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1813.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 20% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for East Helena?
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.
Within Montana, the closest population matches are South Browning (1,852 residents); Malta (1,902 residents, $59,449 income); Pablo (1,808 residents, $38,430 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Albany, MO (1,855 residents); Crescent City, FL (1,856 residents); Sneads, FL (1,854 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.
Population change
Is East Helena growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +385 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +19.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 55 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
2020 estimate
1,940
2025 estimate
2,325
Period change
+19.8%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in East Helena?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 66.8%. 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
66.8%
Work from home
9.1%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 973 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 13.3% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.6 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
D
City profile score · East Helena, MT
43/100
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 C+
136 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
21.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
13.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$53,611
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
East Helena profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Violent crime: 62/100 (C+) · 136 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 40/100 (D) · 21.9%
Poverty rate: 27/100 (F) · 13.3%
Household income: 25/100 (F) · $53,611
Where East Helena sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
East Helena'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 - East Helena highlighted among 24 peers.Read the chart values
East Helena, MT (this city): home $254,400, crime 1,813/100k
Crescent City, FL : home $187,500, crime 1,404/100k
Raymond, MS : home $206,000, crime 697/100k
Columbus, MT : home $264,000, crime 2,189/100k
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 East Helena compare to other US cities?
East Helena 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 value57% pricier than other cities
Median rent61% pricier than other cities
Safety37% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Montana and the picture shifts: East Helena ranks #23 of 39 Montana cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares East Helena 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 East Helena near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, East Helena ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares East Helena only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#177 of 282
37th percentile in Montana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Median Home Value
#119 of 279
57th percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#83 of 315
74th 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 · 37th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
East Helena's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
East Helena'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 East Helena's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$254,40043rd percentilemore affordable than 43% 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
East Helena's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,457 of 15,516
More affordable than 20% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,484 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.7×, East Helena sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,457 of 15,516 and #9,484 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
$53,611East Helena, MT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context East Helena, 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 East Helena, MT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,855
Median Income
$53,611
Median Home Value
$254,400
Median Age
35.9
Poverty Rate
13.3%
Labor force participation
65.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1813.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
136.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1677.2
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.
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
East Helena's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,940 residents
2021
1,964 residents
2022
1,985 residents
2023
2,119 residents
2024
2,226 residents
2025
2,325 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Active
Total Permits (2024)
55
housing units authorized
Single-Family
55
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
29.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
1
1
0
$0.3M
2021
1
1
0
$0.3M
2022
53
53
0
$17.9M
2023
55
55
0
$21.0M
2024
55
55
0
$22.9M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
66.8%
Carpool
9.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.1%
Work from Home
9.1%
Other
13.4%
Based on 973 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 East Helena. 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 East Helena 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 East Helena sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How East Helena 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, 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.