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Place dossier plate
SheetMT-LAUREL-MT · Laurel, MT 7,198 pop · income 45th pct · 5 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 Laurel
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Laurel on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lewistown · lowest
44,195
Lewistown · lowest
44,195 median HH income
20.9% of the leader · rank #1
Langleyville · near
66,375
Langleyville · near
66,375 median HH income
31.4% of the leader · rank #2
Wykoff · near
66,375
Wykoff · near
66,375 median HH income
31.4% of the leader · rank #3
Ingram · near
66,375
Ingram · near
66,375 median HH income
31.4% of the leader · rank #4
Garretson · near
66,375
Garretson · near
66,375 median HH income
31.4% of the leader · rank #5
Laurel · this city
66,382
Laurel · this city
66,382 median HH income
31.4% of the leader · rank #6
Belterra · highest
211,471
Belterra · highest
211,471 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 Laurel 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: 7,198.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Laurel - the verdict
Nationally, Laurel sits in the 45th percentile for household income and the 7th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
45th
percentile, household income
52nd
percentile, home value
61st
percentile, median rent
7th
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: Laurel, MT
Laurel is a small town in Montana, home to 7,198 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Laurel report a median income of $66,382 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.6%. Laurel's housing stock carries a median value of $232,700, and the median resident age is 36.6 years. Educational attainment runs 20.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 68.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 20 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 82% from five years earlier. Laurel's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 4147.5 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, above 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: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Montana at 94.6 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). 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. Natural-hazard exposure scores 33.3 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Laurel'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 within-city variation to work and mobility to schools and households to comparison shortlist to population change to housing and income to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Laurel, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can 5 Census tracts reveal inside Laurel?
PlainCities matches 5 Census tracts to this city.
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.
What does the journey to work look like in Laurel?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 67.8%. 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.
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. 20.1% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Laurel?
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 Lockwood (7,474 residents, $74,451 income); Sidney (6,235 residents, $62,992 income); Helena Valley West Central (8,224 residents, $89,040 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are San Martin, CA (7,199 residents); Neptune Beach, FL (7,199 residents); Dahlonega, GA (7,194 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 Laurel growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -14 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 20 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
2020 estimate
7,219
2025 estimate
7,205
Period change
-0.2%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Laurel?
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 3.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.5×
Home value
$232,700
Household income
$66,382
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Laurel?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 4147.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 82% higher 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.
Total reported rate
4147.5
Violent rate
542.8
Property rate
3604.7
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Below median income · poverty 9.6% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.6 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
D
City profile score · Laurel, MT
40/100
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.
Household income D
$66,382
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
9.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
20.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
543 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Laurel profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Household income: 44/100 (D) · $66,382
Poverty rate: 41/100 (D) · 9.6%
Bachelor's+ share: 35/100 (F) · 20.1%
Violent crime: 13/100 (F) · 543 /100k
Where Laurel sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Laurel'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 - Laurel highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Laurel, MT (this city): home $232,700, crime 4,148/100k
Neptune Beach, FL : home $613,500, crime 1,302/100k
Delafield, WI : home $504,500, crime 2,137/100k
Dayton, TN : home $152,200, crime 1,675/100k
Sidney, MT : home $249,100, crime 1,161/100k
Lewistown, MT : home $159,500, crime 1,852/100k
Miles City, MT : home $182,700, crime 1,052/100k
Whitefish, MT : home $648,200, crime 1,213/100k
How does Laurel compare to other US cities?
Here's how Laurel stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income45% higher than other cities
Home value52% pricier than other cities
Median rent61% pricier than other cities
Safety7% 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, Laurel ranks #36 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 Laurel 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 Laurel near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Laurel ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Laurel only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#114 of 282
60th percentile in Montana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Median Home Value
#136 of 279
51st percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#117 of 315
63rd percentile in Montana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#178 of 317
43rd 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
45th percentile nationally for median household income · 7th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Laurel's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Laurel'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 Laurel's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$232,70048th percentilemore affordable than 48% 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
Laurel's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,980 of 15,516
More affordable than 42% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,249 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.5×, Laurel sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,980 of 15,516 and #7,249 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
$66,382Laurel, MT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Laurel, 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 Laurel, MT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)68.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,198
Median Income
$66,382
Median Home Value
$232,700
Median Age
36.6
Poverty Rate
9.6%
Labor force participation
68.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
4147.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
542.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3604.7
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
Laurel's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,219 residents
2021
7,191 residents
2022
7,210 residents
2023
7,195 residents
2024
7,252 residents
2025
7,205 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
20
housing units authorized
Single-Family
20
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
11
9
2
$1.9M
2020
5
5
0
$1.1M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
24
24
0
$2.7M
2023
18
18
0
$2.1M
2024
20
20
0
$2.3M
Permit volume increased 82% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
67.8%
Carpool
17.5%
Public Transit
2.0%
Walk
2.3%
Work from Home
10.1%
Based on 3,765 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 Laurel. 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 Laurel 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 Laurel sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Laurel 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.