Best PlacesCut Bank, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cut Bank, 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.
Cut Bank ranks 18,429th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cut Bank
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.
Cut Bank's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cut Bank ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute13.1 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of towns
Where Cut Bank ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cut Bank
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cut Bank home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,403, 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 Cut Bank's effective rate of 0.88%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cut Bank
Cut Bank's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cut Bank.
Who works in Cut Bank, and how
Work in Cut Bank centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Cut Bank
Cut Bank has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Cut Bank and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cut Bank, month by month
Cut Bank sees roughly 149 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 23° | 13° |
| April | 55° | 40° | 27° |
| July | 85° | 67° | 49° |
| October | 57° | 42° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Cut Bank
The nearest airport, Glacier Park International, is about 90 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 396 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cut Bank
Schools across Cut Bank average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Horizon ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Valley View Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Hope Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Boundary County Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Shelby 7-8C− · 30% proficient
- Valier 7-8D · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Sunburst High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Clark Fork Jr/sr High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Shelby High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cut Bank school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cut Bank 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 Cut Bank against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cut Bank
Is Cut Bank a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cut Bank ranks 18,429th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, short commutes, and clean air, and lowest on distance from a big city and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cut Bank expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $178,815. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $65,403 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Cut Bank safe?
Cut Bank is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $905 per resident a year.
Compare Cut Bank with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cut Bank. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cut Bank 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.
Cut Bank detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cut Bank: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cut Bank: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cut Bank: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cut Bank: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cut Bank 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.