The 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Montana For 2022


We used science and data to determine which cities in Montana have the best set up for children: a lot to do, good schools, and no crime.

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Families are important to the Treasure State, and HomeSnacks is here to tell you just how important. You can't have strong families without great infrastructure, so we set out to determine where Montana's strongest family oriented places are located. And lucky for you, this quest led us to create a list of Montana's most family friendly places for 2022.

How did we determine Montana's most family friendly places? We consulted the US Census on places in Big Sky Country with more than 2,000 residents. We looked at several factors: crime, education, family friendly activities, and the percent of households that currently have children. We ended up with 22 family friendly Montana places.

We discovered that Montana is the fourth largest state in the United States, but the eighth least populated. We think that's all the more reason to have your family live in one of Montana's family friendly places: there's plenty of mountain ranges and prairies for your kids to run, and there's plenty of opportunity to make a difference. We also determined that there are places in Montana for every type of family. There are hip mommy and daddy towns like Bozeman, cool cowboy/cowgirl towns like Hamilton, and towns like Whitefish for families that like to ski and snowboard.

Speaking of family friendly amenities, in Montana, the big sky's the limit. You can have your family camping in the Kootenai National Forest just outside of Libby and swimming on the Bigfork side of Flathead Lake all in the same weekend. That's a Montana family win!

To learn more about our methodology and to see why Montana's top ten best places to raise a family are truly the best of the best, read on.

The 10 Best Cities To Raise A Family In Montana For 2022

  1. Dillon
  2. Glendive
  3. Deer Lodge
  4. Red Lodge
  5. Kalispell
  6. Libby
  7. Glasgow
  8. Polson
  9. Cut Bank
  10. Wolf Point

What do 260,000 families already know in Montana? They know that the state has great schools, great jobs, and tons of family friendly activities to keep their families happy, healthy, and entertained. And this is most evident in Montana's number one best place for families for 2022, Dillon.

To see how your favorite place in Montana compared, take a look at the list below. And if you don't find your favorite there, head to the bottom.

Check out some more reading about Montana and the best places for families in the country:

The 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Montana For 2022

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 4,333
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 46
Closest Major City: Boise City
Households with kids: 22.8%
More on Dillon: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Dillon, MT

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 5,030
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 48
Closest Major City: Denver
Households with kids: 24.0%
More on Glendive: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Glendive, MT

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 2,893
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 45
Closest Major City: Spokane
Households with kids: 16.2%
More on Deer Lodge: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Deer Lodge, MT

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 2,134
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 39
Closest Major City: Salt Lake City
Households with kids: 12.7%
More on Red Lodge: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Red Lodge, MT

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 23,935
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 67
Closest Major City: Spokane
Households with kids: 28.8%
More on Kalispell: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Kalispell, MT

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,758
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 36
Closest Major City: Spokane
Households with kids: 20.9%
More on Libby: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Libby, MT

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 3,332
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 57
Closest Major City: Spokane
Households with kids: 28.9%
More on Glasgow: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Glasgow, MT

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,033
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 51
Closest Major City: Spokane
Households with kids: 26.3%
More on Polson: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Polson, MT

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 3,049
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 43
Closest Major City: Spokane
Households with kids: 26.8%
More on Cut Bank: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Cut Bank, MT

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 2,739
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 50
Closest Major City: Spokane
Households with kids: 33.5%
More on Wolf Point: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Wolf Point, MT

Methodology: How do you determine which place is best for families in Montana anyways?

To give you the places in Montana which are best for families, we have to look at a handful of metrics. Of course, we want to measure the type of people who live in each city, and make some assumptions about what's family-friendly and what isn't.

So we researched the internet for a database that contains all that information.

How we crunched the family friendly numbers for the Treasure State

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using U.S. Census data produced for the state of Montana, we looked at every single city in the state. We paid particular attention to:

  • Crime (Both violent and property)
  • Quality of local schools
  • Distance to a major city without necessarily being in it
  • % of households with children
  • Family-friendly amenities nearby (museums, libraries and colleges)

We then gave each city a Family Score.

The higher the score, the better the city is for families. We also limited our results to cities with populations over 2,000 people. For Montana, that meant a total of 22 cities. You can download the data here.

Summary: The Best Places To Raise A Family In Montana

If you're looking for a breakdown of cities in Montana ranked by criteria that most would agree make a place a great spot for families, this is an accurate list.

Here's a look at the best cities for singles Montana according to the data:

  1. Billings
  2. Sidney
  3. Great Falls

For more Montana reading, check out:

Where Are The Best Places For Families In Montana?

Rank City Population Amenities Score
1 Dillon, MT 4,333 41
2 Glendive, MT 5,030 40
3 Deer Lodge, MT 2,893 35
4 Red Lodge, MT 2,134 60
5 Kalispell, MT 23,935 57
6 Libby, MT 2,758 42
7 Glasgow, MT 3,332 39
8 Polson, MT 5,033 55
9 Cut Bank, MT 3,049 64
10 Wolf Point, MT 2,739 55

How Is The Area In ?

Editor's Note: We updated this article for 2022. This is our ninth time ranking the best cities for families in Montana.

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.