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Place dossier plate
SheetMT-HOBSON-MT · Hobson, MT 145 pop · income 4th 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 Hobson
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hobson on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Leadore · lowest
31,023
Leadore · lowest
31,023 median HH income
31.8% of the leader · rank #1
Hobson · this city
34,750
Hobson · this city
34,750 median HH income
35.6% of the leader · rank #2
Bartow · near
34,750
Bartow · near
34,750 median HH income
35.6% of the leader · rank #3
Bovill · near
34,750
Bovill · near
34,750 median HH income
35.6% of the leader · rank #4
Santa Cruz · near
34,750
Santa Cruz · near
34,750 median HH income
35.6% of the leader · rank #5
Ringgold · near
34,750
Ringgold · near
34,750 median HH income
35.6% of the leader · rank #6
Avon · highest
97,656
Avon · highest
97,656 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 Hobson 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: 145.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Hobson places in the 4th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
4th
percentile, household income
14th
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: Hobson, MT
Hobson is a small town in Montana, home to 145 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Hobson households earn a median of $34,750 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 22.5%. Home values in Hobson run a median of $112,500, and the median resident age is 66.4 years. 24.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 35.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 3 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Living costs in Montana run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Montana at 94.6 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,336 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $175 across Montana, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. The average commute for Hobson workers runs 14.3 minutes, with 66.7% driving alone and 15.6% working from home. 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 Hobson'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 work and mobility to schools and households to housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Hobson, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Hobson?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 66.7%. The reported mean trip to work is 14.3 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
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. 24.3% 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 Hobson?
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 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 22.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Hobson?
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 Amsterdam (145 residents, $96,750 income); Avon (145 residents, $97,656 income); Happys Inn (146 residents, $47,976 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Haleburg, AL (145 residents); Appleton, AR (145 residents); Crook, CO (145 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 Hobson growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +13 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +7.3% 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 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
178
2025 estimate
191
Period change
+7.3%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 22.5% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.6 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
F
City profile score · Hobson, MT
28/100
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 D
24.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
22.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$34,750
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).
Hobson profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Bachelor's+ share: 47/100 (D) · 24.3%
Poverty rate: 9/100 (F) · 22.5%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $34,750
How does Hobson compare to other US cities?
Where Hobson sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income4% higher than other cities
Home value14% 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 Hobson 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 Hobson near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hobson ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hobson only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#262 of 282
7th percentile in Montana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Median Home Value
#246 of 279
12th percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#49 of 315
84th percentile in Montana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#139 of 317
55th 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
4th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Hobson's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$112,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 86% 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
Hobson's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,867 of 15,516
More affordable than 49% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,474 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.2×, Hobson sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,867 of 15,516 and #6,474 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
$34,750Hobson, MT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hobson, 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 Hobson, MT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)22.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)35.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
145
Median Income
$34,750
Median Home Value
$112,500
Median Age
66.4
Poverty Rate
22.5%
Labor force participation
35.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.3%
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
Hobson's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
178 residents
2021
180 residents
2022
184 residents
2023
185 residents
2024
187 residents
2025
191 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
14.3 minutes
Drive Alone
66.7%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
17.8%
Work from Home
15.6%
Based on 45 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 Hobson. 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 Hobson 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 Hobson sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hobson 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, 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.