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Place dossier plate
SheetMT-POLSON-MT · Polson, MT 5,334 pop · income 22nd pct · 10 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 Polson
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Polson on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Guánica zona… · lowest
14,772
Guánica zona… · lowest
14,772 median HH income
13.3% of the leader · rank #1
Silver Plume · near
51,458
Silver Plume · near
51,458 median HH income
46.2% of the leader · rank #2
Sumner · near
51,458
Sumner · near
51,458 median HH income
46.2% of the leader · rank #3
Royal Palm Es… · near
51,461
Royal Palm Es… · near
51,461 median HH income
46.2% of the leader · rank #4
Polson · this city
51,463
Polson · this city
51,463 median HH income
46.2% of the leader · rank #5
Penn Yan · near
51,466
Penn Yan · near
51,466 median HH income
46.2% of the leader · rank #6
Four Corners · highest
111,474
Four Corners · highest
111,474 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 Polson 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: 5,334.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Polson - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Polson lands in the 22nd percentile for household income and the 7th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
22nd
percentile, household income
68th
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: Polson, MT
5,334 people live in Polson, Montana - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Polson brings in $51,463 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 14.9%. Home values in Polson run a median of $321,000, and the median resident age is 42.9 years. About 28.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 52.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 10 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Slowing), down 9% from five years earlier. Polson's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 4107.5 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Polson's yearly average temperature at 46.2°F with 15.0 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. 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. Commute times here average 18.3 minutes, with 82.9% driving alone and 2.5% working from home, per Census ACS commuting 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 Polson'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 population change to comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context to reported crime 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 Polson, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can 10 Census tracts reveal inside Polson?
PlainCities matches 10 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +476 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +9.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 10 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 Polson?
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 Orchard Homes (5,280 residents, $68,649 income); Bigfork (5,249 residents, $82,648 income); Columbia Falls (5,531 residents, $65,313 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Guánica zona urbana, PR (5,333 residents); Roanoke, AL (5,332 residents); Rusk, TX (5,332 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.
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 46.2°F, with 15.0 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.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Polson?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 4107.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 80% 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
4107.5
Violent rate
987.9
Property rate
3119.6
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger 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 5 public schools within the city match. 28.3% 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.
Poverty estimate
14.9%
Bachelor's degree+
28.3%
Matched public schools
5
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Polson?
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 6.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
6.2×
Home value
$321,000
Household income
$51,463
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 Polson?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 82.9%. The reported mean trip to work is 18.3 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. 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
82.9%
Work from home
2.5%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,274 workers age 16+.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
F
City profile score · Polson, MT
32/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share C
28.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$51,463
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
988 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Polson profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Bachelor's+ share: 55/100 (C) · 28.3%
Poverty rate: 23/100 (F) · 14.9%
Household income: 22/100 (F) · $51,463
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 988 /100k
Where Polson sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Polson'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 - Polson highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Polson, MT (this city): home $321,000, crime 4,108/100k
Roanoke, AL : home $129,100, crime 4,657/100k
Rusk, TX : home $153,500, crime 1,077/100k
Posen, IL : home $172,800, crime 2,472/100k
Columbia Falls, MT : home $346,700, crime 1,867/100k
Hamilton, MT : home $299,800, crime 2,691/100k
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 Polson compare to other US cities?
Where Polson sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income22% higher than other cities
Home value68% 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.
Zoom in to just Montana and the picture shifts: Polson ranks #35 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 Polson 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 Polson near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Polson ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Polson only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#191 of 282
32nd percentile in Montana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Median Home Value
#89 of 279
68th percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#73 of 315
77th percentile in Montana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#105 of 317
66th 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
22nd percentile nationally for median household income · 7th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Polson's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Polson'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 Polson's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$321,00032nd percentilemore affordable than 32% 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
Polson's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,289 of 15,516
More affordable than 8% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,573 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 6.2×, Polson sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,289 of 15,516 and #10,573 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
$51,463Polson, MT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Polson, 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 Polson, MT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,334
Median Income
$51,463
Median Home Value
$321,000
Median Age
42.9
Poverty Rate
14.9%
Labor force participation
52.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
4107.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
987.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3119.6
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
46.2°F
Annual Precipitation
15.0"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
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
Polson's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,177 residents
2021
5,320 residents
2022
5,481 residents
2023
5,602 residents
2024
5,642 residents
2025
5,653 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
10
housing units authorized
Single-Family
6
detached homes
Multifamily
4
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
11
9
2
$3.0M
2020
13
13
0
$4.3M
2021
29
25
4
$10.5M
2022
36
28
8
$7.1M
2023
8
8
0
$2.3M
2024
10
6
4
$1.8M
Permit volume decreased 9% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
18.3 minutes
Drive Alone
82.9%
Carpool
7.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.9%
Work from Home
2.5%
Other
2.9%
Based on 2,274 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 Polson. 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 Polson 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 Polson sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Polson 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.