Best PlacesFairview, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fairview, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Fairview ranks 18,595th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Distance from a big city pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on walkability.
The best neighborhoods in Fairview
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.
Fairview's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fairview ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 131 pleasant days a year, better than 85% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 85% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 77% of towns
Where Fairview ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 22% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fairview
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fairview home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,031, 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 Fairview's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fairview
Fairview's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Fairview.
Who works in Fairview, and how
Work in Fairview centers on retail trade and mining & oil & gas. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Fairview
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fairview.
What the weather is like in Fairview, month by month
Fairview sees roughly 131 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 17° | 8° |
| April | 58° | 42° | 29° |
| July | 89° | 73° | 57° |
| October | 60° | 44° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Fairview
The nearest airport, Sidney-Richland Regional, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 552 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fairview
Schools across Fairview average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Little Powder ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Bainville SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Fairview SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bainville 7-8B− · 40% proficient
- Sidney Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Fairview 7-8D+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Bainville High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Fairview High SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Sidney High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fairview school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fairview 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 Fairview against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fairview
Is Fairview a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fairview ranks 18,595th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, low taxes, and the weather, 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 Fairview expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $240,098. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $81,031 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Fairview safe?
Fairview is safer than 45% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $419 per resident a year.
Compare Fairview with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fairview. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fairview 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.
Fairview detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fairview: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fairview: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fairview: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fairview: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fairview 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.