Best PlacesDodson, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dodson, 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.
Dodson ranks 32,099th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Dodson
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.
Dodson's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dodson ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 143 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Short commute20.3 minutes each way, better than 87% of towns
Where Dodson ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dodson
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dodson home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $53,071, 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 Dodson's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 Dodson
Dodson 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 Dodson.
Who works in Dodson, and how
Work in Dodson centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 60%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Dodson
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dodson.
What the weather is like in Dodson, month by month
Dodson sees roughly 143 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 20° | 8° |
| April | 59° | 43° | 28° |
| July | 91° | 72° | 53° |
| October | 60° | 43° | 30° |
Flying in and out of Dodson
The nearest airport, Havre City-County, is about 70 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 507 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dodson
Schools across Dodson average a C, better than 42% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Malta K-5B · 50% proficient
- Harlem Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Dodson SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Malta 6-7-8B− · 40% proficient
- Dodson 7-8D+ · 25% proficient
- Harlem 7-8F · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Dodson High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Malta High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
- Harlem High SchoolF · 5% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dodson school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dodson 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 Dodson against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dodson
Is Dodson a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dodson ranks 32,099th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, the weather, and clean air, and lowest on distance from a big city and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dodson expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $249,464. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $53,071 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Dodson safe?
Dodson is safer than 11% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $725 per resident a year.
Compare Dodson with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dodson. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dodson 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.
Dodson detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dodson: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dodson: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dodson: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dodson: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dodson 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.