Best PlacesDecker, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Decker, 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.
Decker ranks 48,209th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Decker
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.
Decker's strengths and weaknesses
Where Decker ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Short commute21.1 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 83% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 118 pleasant days a year, better than 79% of towns
Where Decker ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Decker
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Decker home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $43,928, 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 Decker's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 Decker
Decker runs younger than the country, 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 Decker.
Who works in Decker, and how
Work in Decker centers on agriculture & forestry and public administration. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Decker
Decker has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Decker and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Decker, month by month
Decker sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 24° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 43° | 29° |
| July | 92° | 73° | 53° |
| October | 64° | 45° | 30° |
Flying in and out of Decker
The nearest airport, Sheridan County, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 377 miles away.
The best schools in and around Decker
Schools across Decker average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Birney SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Wyola ElementaryF · 5% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wyola 6-8F · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Colstrip High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Lodge Grass High SchoolF · 10% proficient
- Lame Deer High SchoolF · 7% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Decker school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Decker 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 Decker against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Decker
Is Decker a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Decker ranks 48,209th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, low taxes, and short commutes, and lowest on cell coverage and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Decker expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $152,950. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $43,928 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Decker safe?
Decker is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $659 per resident a year.
Compare Decker with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Decker. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Decker 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.
Decker detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Decker: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Decker: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Decker: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Decker: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Decker 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.