Best PlacesChoteau, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Choteau, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Choteau ranks 17,306th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Choteau
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.
Choteau's strengths and weaknesses
Where Choteau ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute18.8 minutes each way, better than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
- QuietBetter than 90% of towns
Where Choteau ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,133 a month, better than only 15% of towns
- Household income$52,828 median, better than only 16% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Choteau
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Choteau home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $52,828; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Choteau's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Choteau
Choteau runs older 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 Choteau.
Who works in Choteau, and how
Work in Choteau centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Choteau
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Choteau.
What the weather is like in Choteau, month by month
Choteau sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 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° | 27° | 16° |
| April | 57° | 42° | 29° |
| July | 86° | 69° | 51° |
| October | 59° | 45° | 33° |
Flying in and out of Choteau
The nearest airport, Great Falls International, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 352 miles away.
The best schools in and around Choteau
Schools across Choteau average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fairfield Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Choteau SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fairfield 7-8B− · 40% proficient
- Choteau 7-8C · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Fairfield High SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Choteau High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Choteau school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Choteau 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 Choteau against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Choteau
Is Choteau a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Choteau ranks 17,306th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, walkability, and short commutes, and lowest on distance from a big city and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Choteau expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $228,490. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $52,828 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Choteau safe?
Yes, Choteau is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $315 per resident a year.
Compare Choteau with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Choteau. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Choteau 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.
Choteau detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Choteau: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Choteau: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Choteau: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Choteau: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Choteau 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.