Best PlacesBelfry, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Belfry, 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.
Belfry ranks 10,877th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Belfry
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.
Belfry's strengths and weaknesses
Where Belfry ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 166 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of towns
- QuietBetter than 89% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Belfry ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Short commute40.5 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Belfry
A household needs to earn about $126,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Belfry home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $102,179, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Belfry's effective rate of 0.37%, 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 Belfry
Belfry runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Belfry.
Who works in Belfry, and how
Work in Belfry centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Belfry
Belfry has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Belfry and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Belfry, month by month
Belfry sees roughly 166 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 23° | 16° |
| April | 55° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 87° | 71° | 57° |
| October | 56° | 44° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Belfry
The nearest airport, Yellowstone Regional, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Salt Lake City International, about 335 miles away.
The best schools in and around Belfry
Schools across Belfry average a C, better than 31% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mountain View SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Bridger Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Belfry SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bridger 7-8B+ · 50% proficient
- Roosevelt Junior HighC− · 28% proficient
- Belfry 7-8D+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Bridger High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Red Lodge High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Belfry school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Belfry 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 Belfry against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Belfry
Is Belfry a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Belfry ranks 10,877th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low property taxes, and quiet, and lowest on an overheated housing market and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Belfry expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $512,869. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $102,179 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Belfry safe?
Yes, Belfry is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $303 per resident a year.
Compare Belfry with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Belfry. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Belfry 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.
Belfry detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Belfry: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Belfry: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Belfry: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Belfry: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Belfry 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.