Best PlacesFort Shaw, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fort Shaw, 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 Shaw ranks 11,931st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Shaw
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 Shaw's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fort Shaw ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 90% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 81% of towns
Where Fort Shaw ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,052 a month, better than only 22% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Shaw
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Shaw home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,673, 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 Fort Shaw's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 Shaw
Fort Shaw runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fort Shaw.
Who works in Fort Shaw, and how
Work in Fort Shaw centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Fort Shaw
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fort Shaw.
What the weather is like in Fort Shaw, month by month
Fort Shaw sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 27° | 16° |
| April | 57° | 42° | 29° |
| July | 86° | 69° | 51° |
| October | 59° | 45° | 33° |
Flying in and out of Fort Shaw
The nearest airport, Great Falls International, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 348 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fort Shaw
Schools across Fort Shaw average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Greenfield SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Power SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Fairfield Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Greenfield 7-8A+ · 75% proficient
- Power 7-8B+ · 50% proficient
- Sun River Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Power High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Fairfield High SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Simms High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Shaw school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Shaw 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 Shaw against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fort Shaw
Is Fort Shaw a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Shaw ranks 11,931st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, heat safety, and quiet, and lowest on tree cover 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 Fort Shaw expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $266,685. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $78,673 median income, cost of living beats 61% of towns.
Is Fort Shaw safe?
Yes, Fort Shaw is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $305 per resident a year.
Compare Fort Shaw with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Shaw. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Shaw 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 Shaw detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Shaw: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Shaw: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Shaw: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Shaw: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Shaw 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.