Best PlacesFortine, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fortine, 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.
Fortine ranks 39,014th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Distance from a big city pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Fortine
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.
Fortine's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fortine ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 84% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 84% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 76% of towns
Where Fortine ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,056 a month, better than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fortine
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fortine home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $63,026, 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 Fortine's effective rate of 0.44%, 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 Fortine
Fortine runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fortine.
Who works in Fortine, and how
Work in Fortine centers on construction and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Fortine
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fortine.
What the weather is like in Fortine, month by month
Fortine sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 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° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 58° | 43° | 28° |
| July | 87° | 68° | 47° |
| October | 58° | 42° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Fortine
The nearest airport, Glacier Park International, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 352 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fortine
Schools across Fortine average a C−, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ruder ElementaryB · 46% proficient
- Eureka Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Trego SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fortine 7-8B+ · 50% proficient
- Columbia Falls Jr HsB− · 39% proficient
- Eureka Middle School 5-8C+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Columbia Falls High SchlD+ · 25% proficient
- Lincoln Co High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fortine school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fortine 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 Fortine against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fortine
Is Fortine a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fortine ranks 39,014th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, low property taxes, and clean air, and lowest on distance from a big city and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fortine expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $364,195. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $63,026 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Fortine safe?
Fortine is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $437 per resident a year.
Compare Fortine with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fortine. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fortine 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.
Fortine detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fortine: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fortine: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fortine: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fortine: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fortine 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.