Best PlacesBozeman, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Bozeman metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime read low across the board, which puts the choice down to which part suits you. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Kody McCormick Kyler McCormick, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Bozeman ranks 23rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It earns the spot by being affordable and steady rather than flashy: local pay stretches further than in most of the country, and crime is low. The trade is distance from a big city: the nearest large city and its jobs, flights, and culture are a drive away.
The best neighborhoods in the Bozeman metro
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.
The best areas in Bozeman
The towns and districts of the Bozeman metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Four Corners
Local pay stretches further, more households have young kids, and more residents vote.
Downtown Bozeman
More adults hold degrees and biking is better.
Big Sky
It is quieter, though more homes sit empty.
Belgrade
Crime runs lower, though schools score lower.
Manhattan & Three Forks
Homes cost less, though commutes are longer.
Scores across Bozeman run from about the 17th to the 98th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Bozeman's strengths and weaknesses
Bozeman ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. A strong job market is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Population health and heat safety follow.
The one real hole is distance from a big city, near the bottom of the country. Internet speeds and an overheated housing market also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Bozeman ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Short commute18.3 minutes each way, better than 95% of metro areas
Where Bozeman ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,125 a month, better than only 24% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than only 26% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Bozeman
A household needs to earn about $174,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bozeman home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $98,805, 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 Bozeman'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 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 Bozeman
Bozeman runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bozeman.
Who works in Bozeman, and how
Work in Bozeman centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Bozeman
Bozeman has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 96% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bozeman and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Bozeman growing, and who is moving in?
Bozeman has grown about 30% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Morrill County, NE.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Bozeman go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Bozeman, month by month
Bozeman sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 21° | 7° |
| April | 58° | 42° | 26° |
| July | 89° | 69° | 49° |
| October | 60° | 43° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Bozeman
The nearest airport, Bozeman Yellowstone International, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 293 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bozeman
Schools across Bozeman average a B+, better than 87% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Morning Star SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Cottonwood SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Longfellow SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Anderson 7-8A+ · 80% proficient
- Monforton 6-8A · 65% proficient
- Lamotte 6-8A · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Bozeman High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Manhattan H SB+ · 52% proficient
- Gallatin High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bozeman school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bozeman 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 Bozeman against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Bozeman suits
Retirees
The weather beats 72% of metro areas, health care access beats 57%, and it is quieter than 55%.
Common questions about living in Bozeman
Is Bozeman a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bozeman ranks 23rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on a strong job market, population health, and heat safety, and lowest on distance from a big city and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bozeman expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $684,823. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $98,805 median income, cost of living beats 57% of metro areas.
Is Bozeman safe?
Yes, Bozeman is safer than 77% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $372 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bozeman?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 7. That works out to about 117 pleasant days a year, more than 72% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Bozeman?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Four Corners, Downtown Bozeman, and Big Sky. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Bozeman good for families?
Schools beat 87% of metro areas, crime safety beats 77%, and childcare runs $1,125 a month.
Is Bozeman good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 57% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 4% of metro areas. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Bozeman with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bozeman. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bozeman 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.
Bozeman detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bozeman: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bozeman: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bozeman: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bozeman: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bozeman 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.