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Place dossier plate
SheetMT-LIVINGSTON-MT · Livingston, MT 8,635 pop · income 43rd pct · 6 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 Livingston
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Livingston on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Aibonito zona… · lowest
18,012
Aibonito zona… · lowest
18,012 median HH income
9.6% of the leader · rank #1
Elmo · near
65,179
Elmo · near
65,179 median HH income
34.6% of the leader · rank #2
Ohkay Owingeh · near
65,179
Ohkay Owingeh · near
65,179 median HH income
34.6% of the leader · rank #3
Livingston · this city
65,187
Livingston · this city
65,187 median HH income
34.6% of the leader · rank #4
Millersburg · near
65,190
Millersburg · near
65,190 median HH income
34.6% of the leader · rank #5
Dearborn · near
65,192
Dearborn · near
65,192 median HH income
34.6% of the leader · rank #6
East Foothills · highest
188,558
East Foothills · highest
188,558 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 Livingston 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: 8,635.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Livingston - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Livingston lands in the 43rd percentile for household income and the 34th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
43rd
percentile, household income
72nd
percentile, home value
61st
percentile, median rent
34th
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: Livingston, MT
Montana's Livingston is a small town, with 8,635 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Livingston households earn a median of $65,187 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.3%. Livingston's housing stock carries a median value of $348,700, and the median resident age is 43.1 years. About 35.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 68.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 39 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Rapid Growth), up 44% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 1921.2 crimes per 100,000 residents, near the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Livingston's yearly average temperature at 45.6°F with 16.3 inches of precipitation per year and 62.7 inches of snowfall.
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Montana's average monthly utility costs around $175 (state average). 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 Livingston'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 population change to housing and income to comparison shortlist to reported crime to within-city variation to work and mobility to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Livingston, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Livingston?
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 6 public schools within the city match. 35.1% 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.
Is Livingston growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +645 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +7.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 39 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Livingston?
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 Whitefish (8,422 residents, $71,110 income); Miles City (8,412 residents, $60,732 income); Evergreen (8,908 residents, $73,015 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Cumberland Hill, RI (8,638 residents); East Foothills, CA (8,630 residents); Olmsted Falls, OH (8,640 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.
What can 6 Census tracts reveal inside Livingston?
PlainCities matches 6 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.
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 Livingston?
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 5.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
5.3×
Home value
$348,700
Household income
$65,187
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 Livingston?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1921.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 16% 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.
Total reported rate
1921.2
Violent rate
596.2
Property rate
1324.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Livingston?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.2%. 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
70.2%
Work from home
12.8%
Public transit
0.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 4,912 workers age 16+.
What physical conditions frame life in Livingston?
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 45.6°F, with 16.3 inches of precipitation and 62.7 inches of annual snowfall. 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
33.3
Annual precipitation
16.3 in
Mean temperature
45.6°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Below median income · poverty 9.3% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.6 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
D
City profile score · Livingston, MT
44/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share B-
35.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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
$65,187
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
9.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
596 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Livingston profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 67/100 (B-) · 35.1%
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Household income: 42/100 (D) · $65,187
Poverty rate: 42/100 (D) · 9.3%
Violent crime: 10/100 (F) · 596 /100k
Where Livingston sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Livingston'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 - Livingston highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Livingston, MT (this city): home $348,700, crime 1,921/100k
Olmsted Falls, OH : home $214,800, crime 313/100k
Chanute, KS : home $77,900, crime 2,542/100k
Clarendon Hills, IL : home $595,500, crime 434/100k
Whitefish, MT : home $648,200, crime 1,213/100k
Miles City, MT : home $182,700, crime 1,052/100k
Havre, MT : home $197,600, crime 3,870/100k
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 Livingston compare to other US cities?
Here's how Livingston stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income43% higher than other cities
Home value72% pricier than other cities
Median rent61% pricier than other cities
Safety34% 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, Livingston ranks #26 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 Livingston 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 Livingston near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Livingston ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Livingston only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#121 of 282
57th percentile in Montana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Median Home Value
#80 of 279
71st percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#123 of 315
61st percentile in Montana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#62 of 317
80th 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
43rd percentile nationally for median household income · 34th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Livingston's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Livingston'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 Livingston's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$348,70028th percentilemore affordable than 28% 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
Livingston's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,381 of 15,516
More affordable than 14% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,041 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.3×, Livingston sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,381 of 15,516 and #10,041 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$65,187Livingston, MT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Livingston, 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 Livingston, MT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)35.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)68.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
8,635
Median Income
$65,187
Median Home Value
$348,700
Median Age
43.1
Poverty Rate
9.3%
Labor force participation
68.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
35.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1921.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
596.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1324.9
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
45.6°F
Annual Precipitation
16.3"
Annual Snowfall
62.7"
Schools
Total Schools
6
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Livingston's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
8,645 residents
2021
8,821 residents
2022
8,985 residents
2023
9,106 residents
2024
9,236 residents
2025
9,290 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
39
housing units authorized
Single-Family
39
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
4.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
27
25
2
$5.2M
2020
31
29
2
$6.0M
2021
37
37
0
$7.3M
2022
37
37
0
$7.3M
2023
31
31
0
$6.2M
2024
39
39
0
$8.4M
Permit volume increased 44% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
70.2%
Carpool
12.2%
Public Transit
0.7%
Walk
1.9%
Work from Home
12.8%
Other
2.2%
Based on 4,912 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 Livingston. 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 Livingston 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 Livingston sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Livingston 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.