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Place dossier plate
SheetMT-SUPERIOR-MT · Superior, MT 995 pop · income 11th 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 Superior
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Superior on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Chetopa · lowest
22,614
Chetopa · lowest
22,614 median HH income
22.1% of the leader · rank #1
Superior · this city
43,750
Superior · this city
43,750 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #2
Brookside · near
43,750
Brookside · near
43,750 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #3
Colony · near
43,750
Colony · near
43,750 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #4
Midway · near
43,750
Midway · near
43,750 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #5
Nunapitchuk · near
43,750
Nunapitchuk · near
43,750 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #6
Pray · highest
102,143
Pray · highest
102,143 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 Superior 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: 995.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Superior lands in the 11th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
11th
percentile, household income
58th
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: Superior, MT
Superior is a small town in Montana, home to 995 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Superior brings in $43,750 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 12.4%. Superior's housing stock carries a median value of $260,300, and the median resident age is 59.2 years. 21.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 38.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 47.7°F with 16.4 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. 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 Superior'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 climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Superior, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Superior?
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 47.7°F, with 16.4 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Superior?
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 Florence (993 residents, $97,850 income); Absarokee (998 residents, $57,212 income); Browning (990 residents, $34,318 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Laupahoehoe, HI (995 residents); Chetopa, KS (995 residents); The Ponds, NJ (995 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 does the journey to work look like in Superior?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.2%. 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Superior?
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 5.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 12.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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 Superior?
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 3 public schools within the city match. 21.8% 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
12.4%
Bachelor's degree+
21.8%
Matched public schools
3
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Superior growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +103 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +12.4% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. 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.
2020 estimate
832
2025 estimate
935
Period change
+12.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
F
City profile score · Superior, MT
35/100
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.
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 D
21.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
12.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$43,750
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Superior profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Bachelor's+ share: 40/100 (D) · 21.8%
Poverty rate: 30/100 (F) · 12.4%
Household income: 12/100 (F) · $43,750
How does Superior compare to other US cities?
Here's how Superior stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income11% higher than other cities
Home value58% 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 Superior 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 Superior near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Superior ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Superior only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#232 of 282
17th percentile in Montana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Median Home Value
#116 of 279
58th percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#89 of 315
71st percentile in Montana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#160 of 317
49th 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
11th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Superior's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$260,30042nd percentilemore affordable than 42% 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
Superior's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,061 of 15,516
More affordable than 9% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,438 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.9×, Superior sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,061 of 15,516 and #10,438 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
$43,750Superior, MT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Superior, 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 Superior, MT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)12.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)38.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
995
Median Income
$43,750
Median Home Value
$260,300
Median Age
59.2
Poverty Rate
12.4%
Labor force participation
38.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.8%
Climate
Avg Temperature
47.7°F
Annual Precipitation
16.4"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Superior's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
832 residents
2021
881 residents
2022
912 residents
2023
931 residents
2024
936 residents
2025
935 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.2%
Carpool
15.4%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.4%
Work from Home
2.2%
Other
1.8%
Based on 324 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 Superior. 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 Superior 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 Superior sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Superior 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.