Best PlacesBig Arm, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Big Arm, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Big Arm ranks 25,658th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Big Arm
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.
Big Arm's strengths and weaknesses
Where Big Arm ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 79% of towns
Where Big Arm ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,064 a month, better than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Big Arm
A household needs to earn about $149,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Big Arm home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $81,414, 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 Big Arm's effective rate of 0.44%, 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 Big Arm
Big Arm runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Big Arm.
Who works in Big Arm, and how
Work in Big Arm centers on public administration and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Big Arm
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Big Arm.
What the weather is like in Big Arm, month by month
Big Arm sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 58° | 43° | 28° |
| July | 87° | 68° | 47° |
| October | 58° | 42° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Big Arm
The nearest airport, Glacier Park International, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 306 miles away.
The best schools in and around Big Arm
Schools across Big Arm average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Linderman SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Polson Middle SchoolC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Polson High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Big Arm school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Big Arm 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 Big Arm against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Big Arm
Is Big Arm a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Big Arm ranks 25,658th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, clean air, and low taxes, and lowest on an overheated housing market 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 Big Arm expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $599,694. The overall cost of living runs about 26% above the national average. Set against a $81,414 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Big Arm safe?
Yes, Big Arm is safer than 67% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $327 per resident a year.
Compare Big Arm with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Big Arm. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Big Arm 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.
Big Arm detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Big Arm: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Big Arm: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Big Arm: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Big Arm: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Big Arm 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.