Best PlacesFort Harrison, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fort Harrison, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Fort Harrison ranks 3,134th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Harrison
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.
Fort Harrison's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fort Harrison ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 151 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of towns
Where Fort Harrison ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 21% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 22% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,023 a month, better than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Harrison
A household needs to earn about $125,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Harrison home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $91,426, 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 Fort Harrison's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Fort Harrison
Fort Harrison runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fort Harrison.
Who works in Fort Harrison, and how
Work in Fort Harrison centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Fort Harrison
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fort Harrison.
What the weather is like in Fort Harrison, month by month
Fort Harrison sees roughly 151 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 23° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 44° | 31° |
| July | 91° | 73° | 55° |
| October | 61° | 46° | 33° |
Flying in and out of Fort Harrison
The nearest airport, Helena Regional, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 292 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fort Harrison
Schools across Fort Harrison average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Trinity SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Central SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Kessler Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- C R Anderson Middle SchlB · 46% proficient
- Helena Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Helena High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Capital High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Harrison school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Harrison 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 Fort Harrison against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fort Harrison
Is Fort Harrison a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Harrison ranks 3,134th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, low crime, and an educated workforce, and lowest on distance from a big city and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fort Harrison expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $487,866. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $91,426 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Fort Harrison safe?
Yes, Fort Harrison is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $215 per resident a year.
Compare Fort Harrison with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Harrison. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Harrison 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.
Fort Harrison detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Harrison: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Harrison: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Harrison: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Harrison: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Harrison 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.