These Are The 10 Snobbiest Places In Montana


We used science and data to determine which cities in MT probably think they’re better than you.

This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out.

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When it comes to being a snob, you’ve got all types. You’ve got your wine snobs, beer snobs, and food snobs. There are book snobs, movie snobs, and theatre (yes, with an re) snobs. These days, you’ve probably even got snob snobs—people who think their type of snob is better than yours.

Up in Montana, you might not think of folks as ‘snobby’ as the others in the northeast. But, they’re out there, for sure. Especially in certain areas of Montana, where you can call these true northerners snooty or even just plain loaded if you will.

In fact, in these 10 places, it’s downright snobby:

  1. Red Lodge (Photos)
  2. Whitefish (Photos)
  3. Bigfork
  4. Four Corners
  5. Montana City
  6. Lolo
  7. Helena Valley Northwest
  8. Big Sky
  9. Frenchtown
  10. Lakeside (Photos)

Now we’re not so full of ourselves as to just come up with this list from nowhere. We actually analyzed 66 places in the state. And we’re not saying there’s anything wrong with these cities.

Actually, if we had their wealth and lifestyle, we’d probably be a little snobby, too.

For more Montana reading, check out:

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How we determined the snobbiest places in Montana

You think we’d just come up with this list willy nilly? Not a chance.

What we did is, we gathered up all of the places in Montana with populations of 1,500 people or more. This left us with a total of 66 places. Then, we looked at each place in terms of these snoot-er-iffic criteria: (And no, it’s not a word. English snob.)

  • Median home price (Higher is snobbier)
  • Median household income (Higher is snobbier)
  • Percent of population with a college degree (Higher is snobbier)
  • Private schools per capita (Higher is snobbier)
  • Theaters per capita (Higher is snobbier)
  • Art galleries per capita (Higher is snobbier)

From there, we ranked each of our 66 places in each category with scores from one to 66. We then averaged each place’s ranking into one overall score, where the lowest score went to the snobbiest place in Montana. So let’s all flip a table in honor of Red Lodge (with our pinkies up, of course.)

Now before you get upset and ruin your blowout or something drastic here, let’s remember that this is all in good fun. Would we live in one of these 10 places if we had the chance? Of course we would!

Now, let’s put on your monocle and take a look at what make these places so snobby; for a more complete list, just hop down to the end of the post.

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1. Red Lodge

Source: Public domain

Population: 2,353
Median household income: $54,373
Median home price: $224,000
College degrees: 32%

2. Whitefish

Population: 6,540
Median household income: $43,620
Median home price: $261,000
College degrees: 44%

3. Bigfork

Source: Public Domain

Population: 4,356
Median household income: $43,389
Median home price: $322,200
College degrees: 20%

4. Four Corners

Source: Public Domain

Population: 3,000
Median household income: $70,293
Median home price: $315,293
College degrees: 34%

5. Montana City

Source: Public Domain

Population: 2,800
Median household income: $98,893
Median home price: $308,283
College degrees: 29%

6. Lolo

Source: Public Domain

Population: 3,380
Median household income: $60,293
Median home price: $218,000
College degrees: 27%

7. Helena Valley Northwest

Source: Public Domain

Population: 3,500
Median household income: $64,903
Median home price: $214,292
College degrees: 30%

8. Big Sky

Source: Public Domain

Population: 2,266
Median household income: $38,034
Median home price: $380,933
College degrees: 45%

9. Frenchtown

Source: Public Domain

Population: 1,566
Median household income: $87,293
Median home price: $215,293
College degrees: 18%

10. Lakeside

Population: 2,286
Median household income: $54,223
Median home price: $292,293
College degrees: 26%

Summing Up The Humble Pie

Sure, we might have poked a little harmless fun at these 10 snobby places in Montana, but hey, it’s only because we’re jealous. High incomes, expensive homes, and excellent educations? That sounds pretty charming to us. Who wouldn’t want that!

If you’re interested, here are the least snobby places in Montana: South Browning, Pablo, North Browning, Lame Deer and Roundup.
Desktop users, there’s a chart below with all snobby cities in Montana ranked from first to last.

City Home Prices Rank
red lodge $224,100 1
whitefish $261,300 2
bigfork $322,700 3
four corners $315,200 4
montana city $308,600 5
lolo $218,800 6
helena valley northwest $214,100 7
big sky $380,000 8
frenchtown $215,000 9
lakeside $292,500 10
helena $195,000 11
big timber $157,000 12
orchard homes $255,000 13
helena valley west central $207,000 14
livingston $160,700 14
kalispell $191,600 16
bozeman $259,000 17
missoula $238,300 18
helena valley northeast $188,000 19
east missoula $186,200 20
billings $178,000 21
east helena $159,100 22
belgrade $190,600 23
choteau $117,000 24
plentywood $102,300 24
dillon $138,000 26
helena valley southeast $169,100 26
columbia falls $180,200 26
stevensville $168,200 26
polson $187,100 30
sidney $130,700 31
west glendive $131,000 32
laurel $146,600 33
bonner-west riverside $126,000 34
hamilton $159,600 35
great falls $153,500 36
sun prairie $124,600 37
columbus $158,800 38
forsyth $118,000 39
glasgow $100,200 40
glendive $116,600 41
havre $125,900 42
shelby $106,700 43
cut bank $76,300 43
lockwood $146,100 43
townsend $128,100 46
lewistown $103,200 46
three forks $156,600 48
butte-silver bow $129,400 48
miles city $93,500 50
colstrip $121,400 51
baker $95,900 52
ronan $120,400 53
wolf point $62,600 53
evergreen $162,700 55
libby $106,700 56
deer lodge $89,100 57
anaconda-deer lodge county $116,100 58
malta $80,800 59
conrad $84,400 60
hardin $89,500 61
roundup $90,000 62
lame deer $55,700 63
north browning $67,600 64
pablo $72,600 64
south browning $54,500 66
About Nick Johnson

Nick Johnson earned his masters in Business Administration from the Drucker School At Claremont Graduate University. He has written for 39 publications across the country and ran the media relations department at Movoto, a real estate portal based in San Francisco. He has been featured in over 500 publications as an expert in real estate and as an authority on real estate trends.

Nick's the creator of the HomeSnacks YouTube channel that now has over 260,000 subscribers and is an excellent source to learn about different parts of the country.