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Place dossier plate
SheetMT-SIDNEY-MT · Sidney, MT 6,235 pop · income 40th 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 Sidney
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sidney on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Crystal City · lowest
38,598
Crystal City · lowest
38,598 median HH income
34.6% of the leader · rank #1
Green Valley · near
62,986
Green Valley · near
62,986 median HH income
56.5% of the leader · rank #2
Brookshire · near
62,987
Brookshire · near
62,987 median HH income
56.5% of the leader · rank #3
Watertown · near
62,991
Watertown · near
62,991 median HH income
56.5% of the leader · rank #4
Sidney · this city
62,992
Sidney · this city
62,992 median HH income
56.5% of the leader · rank #5
Indianapolis · near
62,995
Indianapolis · near
62,995 median HH income
56.5% 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 Sidney 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: 6,235.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Sidney - the verdict
Sidney ranks in the 40th percentile for household income and the 57th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
40th
percentile, household income
56th
percentile, home value
61st
percentile, median rent
57th
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: Sidney, MT
Montana's Sidney is a small town, with 6,235 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Sidney households earn a median of $62,992 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.4%. Sidney's housing stock carries a median value of $249,100, and the median resident age is 38.9 years. 18.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 69.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Sidney (No Permits), per Census BPS data. Sidney reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1160.7 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 45.2°F with 15.5 inches of precipitation per year and 30.4 inches of snowfall.
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Montana's average monthly utility costs around $175 (state average). Workers in Sidney report an average commute of 19.3 minutes, with 86.2% driving alone and 1.2% working from home. 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 Sidney'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 population change to schools and households to climate and hazard context to housing and income to comparison shortlist to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Sidney, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Within-city variation
What can 5 Census tracts reveal inside Sidney?
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 Sidney?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 86.2%. The reported mean trip to work is 19.3 minutes.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -140 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Sidney?
Within Montana, the closest population matches are Lewistown (6,028 residents, $44,195 income); Four Corners (5,562 residents, $111,474 income); Columbia Falls (5,531 residents, $65,313 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Loudon, TN (6,235 residents); Brookville, OH (6,234 residents); Willows, CA (6,239 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.
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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Sidney?
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 18.9% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
6
Bachelor's degree+
18.9%
Poverty estimate
9.4%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 45.2°F, with 15.5 inches of precipitation and 30.4 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.
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.
Mean temperature
45.2°F
Annual precipitation
15.5 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
33.3
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
How far does income reach against housing in Sidney?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 4.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
Household income
$62,992
Home value
$249,100
Value / income
4.0×
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 Sidney?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1160.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 49% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
696.4
Violent rate
464.3
Total reported rate
1160.7
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Below median income · poverty 9.4% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.6 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
D
City profile score · Sidney, 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.
Poverty rate D
9.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$62,992
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
18.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
464 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Sidney profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Poverty rate: 42/100 (D) · 9.4%
Household income: 39/100 (F) · $62,992
Bachelor's+ share: 31/100 (F) · 18.9%
Violent crime: 18/100 (F) · 464 /100k
Where Sidney sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Sidney'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 - Sidney highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Sidney, MT (this city): home $249,100, crime 1,161/100k
Loudon, TN : home $220,900, crime 698/100k
Brookville, OH : home $170,900, crime 950/100k
Princeton, KY : home $89,700, crime 1,733/100k
Lewistown, MT : home $159,500, crime 1,852/100k
Columbia Falls, MT : home $346,700, crime 1,867/100k
Polson, MT : home $321,000, crime 4,108/100k
Laurel, MT : home $232,700, crime 4,148/100k
How does Sidney compare to other US cities?
Sidney measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income40% higher than other cities
Home value56% pricier than other cities
Median rent61% pricier than other cities
Safety57% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Montana, Sidney ranks #17 of 39 Montana cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Sidney 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 Sidney near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sidney ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sidney only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#130 of 282
54th percentile in Montana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Median Home Value
#122 of 279
56th percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#121 of 315
61st percentile in Montana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#195 of 317
38th 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
40th percentile nationally for median household income · 57th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Sidney's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Sidney'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 Sidney's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$249,10044th percentilemore affordable than 44% 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
Sidney's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,571 of 15,516
More affordable than 32% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,282 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.0×, Sidney sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,571 of 15,516 and #8,282 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
$62,992Sidney, MT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sidney, 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 Sidney, MT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)18.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)69.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,235
Median Income
$62,992
Median Home Value
$249,100
Median Age
38.9
Poverty Rate
9.4%
Labor force participation
69.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
18.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1160.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
464.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
696.4
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
45.2°F
Annual Precipitation
15.5"
Annual Snowfall
30.4"
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
Sidney's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
6,357 residents
2021
6,229 residents
2022
6,127 residents
2023
6,070 residents
2024
6,051 residents
2025
6,217 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
19.3 minutes
Drive Alone
86.2%
Carpool
5.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
6.7%
Work from Home
1.2%
Based on 3,361 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 Sidney. 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 Sidney 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 Sidney sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sidney 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.