Best PlacesDrummond, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Drummond, 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.
Drummond ranks 41,025th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Drummond
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.
Drummond's strengths and weaknesses
Where Drummond ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 91% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 115 pleasant days a year, better than 77% of towns
Where Drummond ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 12% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Drummond
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Drummond home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,345, 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 Drummond's effective rate of 0.36%, 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 Drummond
Drummond 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 Drummond.
Who works in Drummond, and how
Work in Drummond centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Drummond
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Drummond.
What the weather is like in Drummond, month by month
Drummond sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 24° | 16° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 31° |
| July | 91° | 71° | 51° |
| October | 60° | 44° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Drummond
The nearest airport, Missoula Montana, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 262 miles away.
The best schools in and around Drummond
Schools across Drummond average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Elk City SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Hall SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Drummond SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Drummond 7-8D− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Drummond High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Seeley-swan High SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Powell County High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Drummond school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Drummond 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 Drummond against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Drummond
Is Drummond a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Drummond ranks 41,025th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, low property taxes, and clean air, and lowest on an overheated housing market and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Drummond expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $364,678. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $60,345 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Drummond safe?
Drummond is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $637 per resident a year.
Compare Drummond with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Drummond. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Drummond 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.
Drummond detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Drummond: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Drummond: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Drummond: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Drummond: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Drummond 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.