Gayest places in Montana research summary. We used Saturday Night Science to research the cities in Montana with the highest percent of same-sex households for 2026. The data comes from the American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year vintage, which counts same-sex married spouses and same-sex unmarried partners at the city level.
1.9% gay households · #1 gayest in Montana
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1.5% gay households · #2 gayest in Montana
Located in
Flathead County, MontanaKalispell is a city in, and the county seat of Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2015 Census estimates put Kalispell’s population at 22,052. The Kalispell Micropolitan Statistical Area has a population of 93,068 and it is the largest city and commercial center of northwest Montana. The name Kalispell is a Salish word meaning “flat land above the lake”. Kalispell is also the gateway to Glacier National Park.
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1.5% gay households · #3 gayest in Montana
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1.2% gay households · #4 gayest in Montana
Located in
Cascade County, MontanaGreat Falls is a city in and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, United States. The 2015 census estimate put the population at 59,638. The population was 58,505 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cascade County and has a population of 82,278. Great Falls was the largest city in Montana from 1950 to 1970, when Billings surpassed it. Great Falls remained the second largest city in Montana until 2000, when it was passed by Missoula. Since then Great Falls has been the third largest city in the state.
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1.2% gay households · #5 gayest in Montana
Located in
Flathead County, MontanaWhitefish is a city in Flathead County, Montana, United States. The population was 6,357 at the 2010 census. It is home to a ski resort on Big Mountain called Whitefish Mountain Resort.
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1.1% gay households · #6 gayest in Montana
Located in
Yellowstone County, MontanaBillings is the largest city in the state of Montana, and the principal city of the Billings Metropolitan Area with a population of 166,855. It has a trade area of over half a million people.
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1.1% gay households · #7 gayest in Montana
Located in
Gallatin County, MontanaBozeman is a city in and the seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2010 census put Bozeman’s population at 37,280 and by 2016 the population rose to 45,250, making it the fourth largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of the Bozeman, MT Micropolitan Statistical Area, consisting of all of Gallatin County with a population of 97,304. It is the largest Micropolitan Statistical Area in Montana and is the third largest of all of Montana-s statistical areas.
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0.9% gay households · #8 gayest in Montana
Located in
Missoula County, MontanaMissoula is a city in the U.S. state of Montana and is the county seat of Missoula County. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluences with the Bitterroot and Blackfoot Rivers in western Montana and at the convergence of five mountain ranges, thus is often described as the “hub of five valleys”. In 2016, the United States Census Bureau estimated the city’s population at 72,364 and the population of the Missoula Metropolitan Area at 116,130. In the 1990s, Missoula overtook GreatFalls as Montana-s secondlargest city, behind Billings. Missoula is home to the University of Montana, a public research university.
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0.7% gay households · #9 gayest in Montana
Located in
Fergus County, MontanaLewistown is a city in and the county seat of Fergus County, Montana, United States. The population was 5,901 at the 2010 census. Lewistown is located in central Montana, the geographic center of the state, southeast of Great Falls. First planned in 1882, it was the site of an 1880s gold rush.
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0.4% gay households · #10 gayest in Montana
Located in
Yellowstone County, MontanaLaurel is a city in Yellowstone County, Montana, United States. It is the third largest community in the Billings Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is located in the Yellowstone Valley, as an east-west terminal division point of the Burlington-Northern Railroad. The population was 6,781 at the 2010 census.
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Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Montana’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Montana’s LGBTQ households are
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the gayest places in Montana for 2026
In order to rank the gayest cities in Montana, we used Saturday Night Science and the 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the U.S. Census. We looked at:
- Percentage of all households that are unmarried, same-sex partners
We limited the analysis to non-CDPs that have over 1,000 households.
We ranked each place from 1 to 27 with the city containing the highest percentage of unmarried, same-sex partner households being the most gay.
In the end, Hamilton ended up being the most gay place with 1.9% gay households.
Skip to the end to see the list of all the places in the state from gayest to straightest.
We updated this report for 2026. This report is our eleventh time ranking the gayest places in Montana.
The full plate
Gayest Places In Montana
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Households | LGBTQ Households | % Gay Households |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hamilton | 2,748 | 53 | 1.9% |
| 2 | Kalispell | 11,795 | 181 | 1.5% |
| 3 | Shelby | 1,183 | 18 | 1.5% |
| 4 | Great Falls | 26,379 | 313 | 1.2% |
| 5 | Whitefish | 4,302 | 51 | 1.2% |
| 6 | Billings | 50,994 | 561 | 1.1% |
| 7 | Bozeman | 23,970 | 257 | 1.1% |
| 8 | Missoula | 34,941 | 298 | 0.9% |
| 9 | Lewistown | 2,880 | 20 | 0.7% |
| 10 | Laurel | 3,135 | 14 | 0.4% |
| 11 | Havre | 3,799 | 9 | 0.2% |
| 12 | Helena | 15,774 | 36 | 0.2% |
| 13 | Belgrade | 4,852 | 11 | 0.2% |
| 14 | Miles City | 3,608 | 6 | 0.2% |
| 15 | Red Lodge | 1,389 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 16 | Livingston | 4,276 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 17 | Glendive | 1,983 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 18 | Deer Lodge | 1,369 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 19 | Glasgow | 1,387 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 20 | Columbia Falls | 2,209 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 21 | Hardin | 1,394 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 22 | Dillon | 1,764 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 23 | Cut Bank | 1,087 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 24 | Conrad | 1,026 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 25 | Sidney | 2,505 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 26 | Polson | 2,380 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 27 | Libby | 1,512 | 0 | 0.0% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. Places with over 1,000 households.
Summary
There You Have It – The Most LGBT Friendly Cities In Montana For 2026
If you’re looking at the number of gay households in Montana, this is an accurate list.
The gayest cities in Montana are Hamilton, Kalispell, Shelby, Great Falls, Whitefish, Billings, Bozeman, Missoula, Lewistown, and Laurel. Not sold on Montana? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
