Best PlacesBirney, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Birney, 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.
Birney ranks 43,722nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Birney
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.
Birney's strengths and weaknesses
Where Birney ranks high
- Short commute14.3 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 117 pleasant days a year, better than 78% of towns
Where Birney ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 5% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Birney
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Birney home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $50,474, 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 Birney's effective rate of 0.23%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Birney
Birney runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Birney.
Who works in Birney, and how
Work in Birney centers on education and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Birney
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Birney.
What the weather is like in Birney, month by month
Birney sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 24° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 43° | 29° |
| July | 92° | 73° | 53° |
| October | 64° | 45° | 30° |
Flying in and out of Birney
The nearest airport, Sheridan County, is about 49 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 395 miles away.
The best schools in and around Birney
Schools across Birney average a D, better than 5% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tongue River ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Birney SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Ashland SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tongue River Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
- Ashland 7-8D+ · 25% proficient
- Lame Deer 7-8F · 3% proficient
Top high schools
- Colstrip High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Lame Deer High SchoolF · 7% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Birney school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Birney 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 Birney against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Birney
Is Birney a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Birney ranks 43,722nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, low property taxes, and quiet, and lowest on distance from a big city and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Birney expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $193,516. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $50,474 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Birney safe?
Birney is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $824 per resident a year.
Compare Birney with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Birney. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Birney 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.
Birney detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Birney: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Birney: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Birney: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Birney: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Birney 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.