Best PlacesColumbia Gardens, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Columbia Gardens, 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.
Columbia Gardens ranks 35,686th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Columbia Gardens
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.
Columbia Gardens' strengths and weaknesses
Where Columbia Gardens ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 85% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 127 pleasant days a year, better than 84% of towns
Where Columbia Gardens ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Columbia Gardens
A household needs to earn about $109,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Columbia Gardens home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $62,583, 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 Columbia Gardens' effective rate of 0.33%, 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 Columbia Gardens
Columbia Gardens 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 Columbia Gardens.
Who works in Columbia Gardens, and how
Work in Columbia Gardens centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Columbia Gardens
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Columbia Gardens.
What the weather is like in Columbia Gardens, month by month
Columbia Gardens sees roughly 127 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 6. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 19° | 6° |
| April | 54° | 38° | 24° |
| July | 85° | 66° | 45° |
| October | 58° | 41° | 27° |
Flying in and out of Columbia Gardens
The nearest airport, Bert Mooney, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 253 miles away.
The best schools in and around Columbia Gardens
Schools across Columbia Gardens average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Whitehall ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Salmon Pioneer Primary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Boulder Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Whitehall 6-8C− · 28% proficient
- Boulder 7-8D+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Whitehall High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Jefferson High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Salmon Jr/sr High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Columbia Gardens school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Columbia Gardens 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 Columbia Gardens against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Columbia Gardens
Is Columbia Gardens a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Columbia Gardens ranks 35,686th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, low taxes, and heat safety, and lowest on an overheated housing market and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Columbia Gardens expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $445,450. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $62,583 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is Columbia Gardens safe?
Columbia Gardens is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $663 per resident a year.
Compare Columbia Gardens with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Columbia Gardens. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Columbia Gardens 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.
Columbia Gardens detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Columbia Gardens: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Columbia Gardens: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Columbia Gardens: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Columbia Gardens: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Columbia Gardens 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.