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Place dossier plate
SheetMT-GERALDINE-MT · Geraldine, MT 264 pop · income 10th 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 Geraldine
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Geraldine on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Jeffersonville · lowest
38,750
Jeffersonville · lowest
38,750 median HH income
41.8% of the leader · rank #1
Vincent · near
42,632
Vincent · near
42,632 median HH income
46.0% of the leader · rank #2
Port Norris · near
42,635
Port Norris · near
42,635 median HH income
46.0% of the leader · rank #3
Geraldine · this city
42,639
Geraldine · this city
42,639 median HH income
46.0% of the leader · rank #4
Adwolf · near
42,639
Adwolf · near
42,639 median HH income
46.0% of the leader · rank #5
Bethune · near
42,656
Bethune · near
42,656 median HH income
46.0% of the leader · rank #6
Swan Valley · highest
92,750
Swan Valley · highest
92,750 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 Geraldine 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: 264.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Geraldine places in the 10th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
10th
percentile, household income
2nd
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: Geraldine, MT
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 264 residents in Geraldine, a small town within Montana. The typical household in Geraldine brings in $42,639 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 13.6%. Geraldine's housing stock carries a median value of $73,300, and the median resident age is 56.5 years. Educational attainment runs 19.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 40.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 46.8°F with 16.9 inches of precipitation per year.
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,336 per month. 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 Geraldine'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 comparison shortlist to population change to climate and hazard context to schools and households to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Geraldine, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Geraldine?
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 Wyola (264 residents, $48,750 income); South Glastonbury (263 residents, $58,750 income); Bear Dance (262 residents, $71,458 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Yolo, CA (264 residents); Swan Valley, ID (264 residents); Cypress, IL (264 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.
Is Geraldine growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -7 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.3% 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.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
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 46.8°F, with 16.9 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.
What does the education layer cover for Geraldine?
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 3 public schools within the city match. 19.1% 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.
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 Geraldine?
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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
1.7×
Home value
$73,300
Household income
$42,639
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 Geraldine?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 68.4%. 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
68.4%
Work from home
13.7%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 95 workers age 16+.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
F
City profile score · Geraldine, MT
32/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
13.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$42,639
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Geraldine profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Bachelor's+ share: 32/100 (F) · 19.1%
Poverty rate: 25/100 (F) · 13.6%
Household income: 10/100 (F) · $42,639
How does Geraldine compare to other US cities?
Where Geraldine sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income10% higher than other cities
Home value2% 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 Geraldine 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 Geraldine near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Geraldine ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Geraldine only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#238 of 282
16th percentile in Montana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Median Home Value
#266 of 279
5th percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#80 of 315
74th percentile in Montana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#193 of 317
39th 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
10th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Geraldine's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$73,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 98% 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
Geraldine's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#796 of 15,516
More affordable than 95% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#773 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.7×, Geraldine sits in the affordable band:
national rank #796 of 15,516 and #773 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
$42,639Geraldine, MT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Geraldine, 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 Geraldine, MT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)40.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
264
Median Income
$42,639
Median Home Value
$73,300
Median Age
56.5
Poverty Rate
13.6%
Labor force participation
40.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.1%
Climate
Avg Temperature
46.8°F
Annual Precipitation
16.9"
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
Geraldine's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
211 residents
2021
211 residents
2022
208 residents
2023
207 residents
2024
205 residents
2025
204 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
68.4%
Carpool
4.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
11.6%
Work from Home
13.7%
Other
2.1%
Based on 95 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 Geraldine. 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 Geraldine 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 Geraldine sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Geraldine 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.