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Place dossier plate
SheetMT-THREE-FORKS-MT · Three Forks, MT 2,034 pop · income 62nd 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 Three Forks
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Three Forks on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Ronan · lowest
41,429
Ronan · lowest
41,429 median HH income
40.5% of the leader · rank #1
Glassboro · near
80,388
Glassboro · near
80,388 median HH income
78.6% of the leader · rank #2
Holland · near
80,391
Holland · near
80,391 median HH income
78.6% of the leader · rank #3
Lake St. Clair · near
80,392
Lake St. Clair · near
80,392 median HH income
78.6% of the leader · rank #4
Three Forks · this city
80,394
Three Forks · this city
80,394 median HH income
78.6% of the leader · rank #5
Kingsland · near
80,395
Kingsland · near
80,395 median HH income
78.6% of the leader · rank #6
Ely · highest
102,262
Ely · highest
102,262 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 Three Forks 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: 2,034.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Three Forks places in the 62nd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
62nd
percentile, household income
76th
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: Three Forks, MT
Montana's Three Forks is a small town, with 2,034 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $80,394 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 5.1%. Three Forks's housing stock carries a median value of $382,400, and the median resident age is 42.6 years. About 21.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 66.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 1 residential building permits were authorized in Three Forks (Construction Slowdown), down 80% from five years earlier, per Census BPS 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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,336 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $175 across Montana, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Three Forks'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 comparison shortlist to schools and households to population change to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Three Forks, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Three Forks?
Within Montana, the closest population matches are Eureka (2,009 residents, $43,750 income); East Missoula (2,072 residents, $65,541 income); West Glendive (1,968 residents, $57,743 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Fort Polk North, LA (2,034 residents); Pittsville, MD (2,034 residents); Clinton, WI (2,034 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.
What does the education layer cover for Three Forks?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 21.3% 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.
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.
Is Three Forks growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 -62 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What does the journey to work look like in Three Forks?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 81.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Three Forks?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.1%, 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. 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.
Household income
$80,394
Home value
$382,400
Value / income
4.8×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above median income · poverty 5.1% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.6 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Montana average
C
City profile score · Three Forks, MT
59/100
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.
Poverty rate B-
5.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C+
$80,394
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
21.3%
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).
Three Forks profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 66/100 (B-) · 94.6 index
Poverty rate: 65/100 (B-) · 5.1%
Household income: 60/100 (C+) · $80,394
Bachelor's+ share: 38/100 (F) · 21.3%
How does Three Forks compare to other US cities?
Where Three Forks sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income62% higher than other cities
Home value76% 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 Three Forks 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 Three Forks near the bottom of Montana's cities
Among the 317 Montana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Three Forks ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Three Forks only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#63 of 282
78th percentile in Montana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 317
0th percentile in Montana
Median Home Value
#64 of 279
77th percentile in Montana
Poverty Rate
#182 of 315
42nd percentile in Montana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#167 of 317
47th 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
62nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Three Forks's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$382,40024th percentilemore affordable than 24% 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
Three Forks's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,479 of 15,516
More affordable than 20% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,501 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.8×, Three Forks sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,479 of 15,516 and #9,501 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
$80,394Three Forks, MT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Three Forks, 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 Three Forks, MT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,034
Median Income
$80,394
Median Home Value
$382,400
Median Age
42.6
Poverty Rate
5.1%
Labor force participation
66.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.3%
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
Three Forks's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,982 residents
2021
1,986 residents
2022
1,944 residents
2023
1,976 residents
2024
1,950 residents
2025
1,920 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
5
3
2
$0.8M
2020
7
5
2
$1.5M
2021
7
3
4
$1.9M
2022
42
10
32
$11.4M
2023
3
3
0
$1.3M
2024
1
1
0
$0.3M
Permit volume decreased 80% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
81.3%
Carpool
0.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
6.2%
Work from Home
9.1%
Other
2.7%
Based on 1,093 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 Three Forks. 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 Three Forks 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 Three Forks sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Three Forks 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 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.