Best PlacesCarter, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carter, 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.
Carter ranks 13,221st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Carter
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.
Carter's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carter ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- QuietBetter than 88% of towns
- Short commute20.1 minutes each way, better than 87% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of towns
Where Carter ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carter
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carter home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,745, 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 Carter's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 Carter
Carter runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Carter.
Who works in Carter, and how
Work in Carter centers on agriculture & forestry and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Carter
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Carter.
What the weather is like in Carter, month by month
Carter sees roughly 109 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 26° | 16° |
| April | 57° | 43° | 29° |
| July | 88° | 71° | 53° |
| October | 60° | 45° | 33° |
Flying in and out of Carter
The nearest airport, Great Falls International, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 391 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carter
Schools across Carter average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Highwood SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Fort Benton SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fort Benton 7-8A · 60% proficient
- Highwood Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Fort Benton High SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carter school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carter 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 Carter against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carter
Is Carter a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carter ranks 13,221st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, low taxes, and quiet, 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 Carter expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $221,515. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $77,745 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Carter safe?
Carter is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $455 per resident a year.
Compare Carter with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carter. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carter 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.
Carter detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carter: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carter: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carter: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carter: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carter 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.