The 10 Poorest Cities In Montana For 2024


The poorest places in Montana are Libby and Stevensville for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

Like all states, Montana has certain places that are going on hard times. These Montana places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.

Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in Montana.

To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 33 cities in Montana with more than 2,000 people.


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 Poorest Places In Montana For 2024:

  1. Libby
  2. Stevensville
  3. Cut Bank
  4. Wolf Point
  5. Lewistown
  6. Dillon
  7. Anaconda-Deer Lodge County
  8. Red Lodge
  9. Polson
  10. Conrad

Poorest Places In Montana Map

What’s the poorest city in Montana? According to the facts, Libby is the poorest place in Montana for 2024.

This isn’t a commentary on the people that live there or the vibrant culture and traditions of these places. Instead, it’s just a look at the facts.

For more Montana reading, check out:

The 10 Poorest Cities In Montana For 2024

1. Libby

Libby, MT

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 2,857
Rank Last Year: 2 (Up 1)
Median Income: $36,373 (lowest)
Poverty Rate: 29.1% (highest)
People In Poverty: 832
More on Libby: Crime

Libby, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Montana thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.

The city of 2,857 people averages the lowest median household income in Montana and the highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.

2. Stevensville

Stevensville, MT

Source: Wikipedia User Sam Beebe/Ecotrust | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,038
Rank Last Year:
Median Income: $39,836 (3rd lowest)
Poverty Rate: 24.1% (4th highest)
People In Poverty: 491
More on Stevensville: Crime

The second poorest city in Montana is Stevensville.

The city ranks as having the 4th highest incidence of poverty and 3rd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 9th highest in the Treasure State.

3. Cut Bank

Cut Bank, MT

Source: Wikipedia User Royalbroil | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 3,061
Rank Last Year: 5 (Up 2)
Median Income: $41,759 (5th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 26.7% (3rd highest)
People In Poverty: 818
More on Cut Bank: Data | Crime

Placing as the third poorest city, Cut Bank’s median income ranks as the 5th lowest.

And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 26.74% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.

But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Treasure State.

4. Wolf Point

Wolf Point, MT

Source: Wikipedia User Royalbroil | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 2,634
Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 4)
Median Income: $46,389 (8th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 28.7% (2nd highest)
People In Poverty: 755
More on Wolf Point: Crime

Wolf Point ranks as the fourth poorest place in Montana.

The town ranks as having the 8th lowest median household income and the 2nd highest incidence of poverty in the state.

That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.

5. Lewistown

Lewistown, MT

Source: Wikipedia User | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,988
Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 2)
Median Income: $40,705 (4th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 19.1% (7th highest)
People In Poverty: 1,144
More on Lewistown: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

The fifth poorest city in Montana is Lewistown.

The city ranks as having the 4th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 7th highest in Montana.

Still not the best news for Lewistown.

6. Dillon

Dillon, MT

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 3,958
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 5)
Median Income: $42,037 (6th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 22.3% (6th highest)
People In Poverty: 884
More on Dillon: Data | Crime

Dillon ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Treasure State.

It ranks as having the 6th highest incidence of poverty and the 19th highest unemployment rate.

7. Anaconda-Deer Lodge County

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, MT

Source: Wikipedia User Montanabw | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 9,435
Rank Last Year: 6 (Down 1)
Median Income: $46,436 (9th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 22.9% (5th highest)
People In Poverty: 2,165
More on Anaconda-Deer Lodge County: Data | Cost Of Living

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County places as the seventh poorest city in Montana.

The city of over 9,435 ranks as having the 5th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.

8. Red Lodge

Red Lodge, MT

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 2,321
Rank Last Year: 16 (Up 8)
Median Income: $39,472 (2nd lowest)
Poverty Rate: 13.6% (17th highest)
People In Poverty: 314
More on Red Lodge: Crime

Red Lodge ranks as the eighth poorest city in Montana.

The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.

9. Polson

Polson, MT

Source: Wikipedia User Montanabw | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,218
Rank Last Year: 11 (Up 2)
Median Income: $48,866 (10th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 18.7% (9th highest)
People In Poverty: 975
More on Polson: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Polson couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Montana; it ranks number 9.

While the median income is the 10th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Polson ranks as having the 9th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Montana.

10. Conrad

Conrad, MT

Source: Wikipedia User 5of7 | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 2,640
Rank Last Year: 10 (No Change)
Median Income: $49,135 (11th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 18.9% (8th highest)
People In Poverty: 498
More on Conrad: Crime

And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Montana is Conrad.

The city of 2,640 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Treasure State.

Methodology: How We Determined The Poorest Places In Montana for 2024

The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.

However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2018-2022 American Community Survey:

  • Poverty Level
  • Median Household Income

After we collected the data for all 33 places with more than 2,000 people in Montana, we ranked each place from 1 to 33 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.

We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Libby, crowned the “Poorest Place In Montana For 2024”.

This report has been updated for 2024, which is our tenth time ranking the poorest places in Montana.

Summary: The Poorest Cities In Montana For 2024

Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Montana, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Montana.

When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.

If you’re curious enough, here are the richest cities in Montana, according to data:

    Richest: Colstrip
    2nd Richest: Whitefish
    3rd Richest: Glendive

For more Montana reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Poorest Places To Live In Montana

RankCityPopulationPoverty RateMedian IncomePeople In Poverty
1Libby2,85729.1%$36,373832
2Stevensville2,03824.1%$39,836491
3Cut Bank3,06126.7%$41,759818
4Wolf Point2,63428.7%$46,389755
5Lewistown5,98819.1%$40,7051,144
6Dillon3,95822.3%$42,037884
7Anaconda-Deer Lodge County9,43522.9%$46,4362,165
8Red Lodge2,32113.6%$39,472314
9Polson5,21818.7%$48,866975
10Conrad2,64018.9%$49,135498
11Hamilton4,80613.5%$45,973650
12Hardin3,80318.5%$57,266705
13Great Falls60,37315.0%$58,2729,043
14Missoula74,62714.6%$59,78310,880
15Havre9,33215.1%$63,1431,410
16Miles City8,43212.5%$59,5781,051
17Livingston8,48914.0%$62,8931,190
18Kalispell25,47310.4%$57,1232,641
19Columbia Falls5,43514.1%$64,500767
20Sidney6,2579.6%$56,696603
21Shelby3,0589.2%$51,667282
22Laurel7,18111.2%$62,250803
23Bozeman53,50014.7%$74,1137,875
24Deer Lodge3,0306.4%$52,813193
25Helena32,52910.1%$64,7983,298
26Billings117,09311.1%$69,69212,997
27Townsend2,17610.0%$65,522217
28Belgrade10,94112.6%$82,7691,382
29Malta2,1213.7%$60,73578
30Glasgow3,2089.2%$65,850296
31Glendive4,8618.6%$65,663417
32Whitefish8,0986.8%$69,919547
33Colstrip2,3277.6%$87,321177
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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