Best PlacesBasin, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Basin, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Basin ranks 7,268th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Basin
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Basin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Basin ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 95% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Household income$104,514 median, better than 87% of towns
Where Basin ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,081 a month, better than only 20% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 25% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 35% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Basin
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Basin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $104,514, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Basin's effective rate of 0.51%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Basin
Basin runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Basin.
Who works in Basin, and how
Work in Basin centers on public administration and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Basin
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Basin.
What the weather is like in Basin, month by month
Basin sees roughly 131 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 6. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 19° | 6° |
| April | 54° | 38° | 24° |
| July | 85° | 66° | 45° |
| October | 58° | 41° | 27° |
Flying in and out of Basin
The nearest airport, Bert Mooney, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 270 miles away.
The best schools in and around Basin
Schools across Basin average a B−, better than 58% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Clancy SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Boulder Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Basin SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clancy 7-8A− · 53% proficient
- Boulder 7-8D+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Jefferson High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Basin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Basin measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Basin against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Basin
Is Basin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Basin ranks 7,268th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, low crime, and heat safety, and lowest on internet speeds and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Basin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $386,872. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $104,514 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Basin safe?
Yes, Basin is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $209 per resident a year.
Compare Basin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Basin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Basin represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Basin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Basin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Basin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Basin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Basin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Basin detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.