Best PlacesBridger, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bridger, 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.
Bridger ranks 22,945th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bridger
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.
Bridger's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bridger ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 137 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of towns
Where Bridger ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,044 a month, better than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bridger
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bridger home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $61,335, 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 Bridger's effective rate of 0.34%, 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 Bridger
Bridger runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bridger.
Who works in Bridger, and how
Work in Bridger centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Bridger
Bridger has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Bridger and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bridger, month by month
Bridger sees roughly 137 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 Bridger
The nearest airport, Billings Logan International, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Salt Lake City International, about 348 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bridger
Schools across Bridger average a C+, better than 44% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rocky Mountain ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Joliet SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Bridger Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rocky Mountain Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Bridger 7-8B+ · 50% proficient
- Joliet Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Rocky Mountain High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Bridger High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Joliet High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bridger school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bridger 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 Bridger against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bridger
Is Bridger a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bridger ranks 22,945th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, low property taxes, 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 Bridger expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $326,511. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $61,335 median income, cost of living beats 16% of towns.
Is Bridger safe?
Bridger is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $439 per resident a year.
Compare Bridger with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bridger. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bridger 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.
Bridger detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bridger: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bridger: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bridger: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bridger: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bridger 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.