Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetMT-SIMMS-MT · Simms, MT 326 pop · income 75th pct
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 Simms
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Simms on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Heron · lowest
29,357
Heron · lowest
29,357 median HH income
25.5% of the leader · rank #1
Avenel · near
95,935
Avenel · near
95,935 median HH income
83.4% of the leader · rank #2
Simms · this city
95,938
Simms · this city
95,938 median HH income
83.4% of the leader · rank #3
Davey · near
95,938
Davey · near
95,938 median HH income
83.4% of the leader · rank #4
Kempton · near
95,938
Kempton · near
95,938 median HH income
83.4% of the leader · rank #5
Laurel Lake · near
95,938
Laurel Lake · near
95,938 median HH income
83.4% of the leader · rank #6
Bainville · highest
115,000
Bainville · highest
115,000 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Simms 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: 326.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Simms lands in the 75th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
75th
percentile, household income
41st
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: Simms, MT
Montana's Simms is a small town, with 326 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $95,938 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Home values in Simms run a median of $193,900, and the median resident age is 39.4 years. Educational attainment runs 28.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 60.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 2 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. 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). 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 Simms'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 housing and income to schools and households to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Simms, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Simms?
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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 28.0% 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 Simms?
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 Toston (324 residents, $60,264 income); St. Marie (319 residents, $38,125 income); Bainville (313 residents, $115,000 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are College Station, AR (326 residents); Blanca, CO (326 residents); Belgium, IL (326 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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 82.4%. 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.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
B+
City profile score · Simms, MT
75/100
4 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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income B+
$95,938
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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.
Bachelor's+ share C-
28.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Simms profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Household income: 75/100 (B+) · $95,938
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Bachelor's+ share: 54/100 (C-) · 28.0%
How does Simms compare to other US cities?
Here's how Simms stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income75% higher than other cities
Home value41% 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 Simms 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 Simms near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Simms ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Simms only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#29 of 282
90th percentile in Montana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Median Home Value
#173 of 279
38th percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#230 of 315
0th percentile in Montana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#110 of 317
65th 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
75th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Simms's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$193,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 59% 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
Simms's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,702 of 15,516
More affordable than 89% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,630 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.0×, Simms sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,702 of 15,516 and #1,630 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$95,938Simms, MT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Simms, 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 Simms, MT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
326
Median Income
$95,938
Median Home Value
$193,900
Median Age
39.4
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
60.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.0%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
82.4%
Carpool
3.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
4.8%
Work from Home
9.6%
Based on 125 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 Simms. 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 Simms 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 Simms sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Simms 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, NCES CCD, 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.