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Place dossier plate
SheetMT-ROCKY-BOY-WEST-MT · Rocky Boy West, MT 905 pop
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.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Rocky Boy West 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: 905.
Rocky Boy West has 905 residents in Montana. Source: Census ACS.
4th
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: Rocky Boy West, MT
Montana's Rocky Boy West is a small town, with 905 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Typical homes in Rocky Boy West are valued around $81,700, and the median resident age is 31.1 years. 2.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 36.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Living costs in Montana run below the national norm: the state registers 94.6 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. 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. 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 Rocky Boy West'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 comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Rocky Boy West, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; 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 Rocky Boy West?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 57.9%. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Rocky Boy West?
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 Troy (906 residents, $36,641 income); Fairview (919 residents, $80,903 income); Clinton (884 residents, $89,482 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Oak Grove, AL (905 residents); Wedowee, AL (905 residents); Kansas, IL (905 residents). These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
F
City profile score · Rocky Boy West, MT
24/100
3 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.
Poverty rate F
40.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
2.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income N/A
N/A
No ACS median household income on file for this place.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Rocky Boy West profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 40.5%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 2.4%
How does Rocky Boy West compare to other US cities?
Where Rocky Boy West sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Home value4% 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 Rocky Boy West 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 Rocky Boy West near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Rocky Boy West ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Rocky Boy West only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Median Home Value
#264 of 279
5th percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#18 of 315
94th percentile in Montana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#301 of 317
5th 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.
How Rocky Boy West's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$81,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 96% 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
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for Rocky Boy West in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)2.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)40.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)36.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
905
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
$81,700
Median Age
31.1
Poverty Rate
40.5%
Labor force participation
36.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
2.4%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
57.9%
Carpool
24.1%
Public Transit
5.3%
Walk
7.5%
Work from Home
2.2%
Other
3.0%
Based on 228 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 Rocky Boy West. 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 Rocky Boy West 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 Rocky Boy West sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Rocky Boy West 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, 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.