Best PlacesBig Sandy, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Big Sandy, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Big Sandy ranks 19,932nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Big Sandy
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 Sandy's strengths and weaknesses
Where Big Sandy ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute16.6 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 142 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
Where Big Sandy ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 14% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Big Sandy
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Big Sandy home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,298, 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 Big Sandy's effective rate of 0.58%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Big Sandy
Big Sandy's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Big Sandy.
Who works in Big Sandy, and how
Work in Big Sandy centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Big Sandy
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Big Sandy.
What the weather is like in Big Sandy, month by month
Big Sandy sees roughly 142 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 20° | 8° |
| April | 59° | 43° | 28° |
| July | 91° | 72° | 53° |
| October | 60° | 43° | 30° |
Flying in and out of Big Sandy
The nearest airport, Havre City-County, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 435 miles away.
The best schools in and around Big Sandy
Schools across Big Sandy average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Geraldine ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Fort Benton SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Silver Hills Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Geraldine Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Fort Benton 7-8A · 60% proficient
- Rocky Mountain Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Chester-joplin-inverness HsB+ · 58% proficient
- Fort Benton High SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- North Star High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Big Sandy school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Big Sandy 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 Sandy against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Big Sandy
Is Big Sandy a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Big Sandy ranks 19,932nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, low disaster risk, and walkability, and lowest on tree cover 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 Sandy expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $161,172. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $54,298 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Big Sandy safe?
Big Sandy is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $413 per resident a year.
Compare Big Sandy with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Big Sandy. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Big Sandy 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 Sandy detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Big Sandy: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Big Sandy: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Big Sandy: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Big Sandy: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Big Sandy 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.