Best PlacesGranite County, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Granite County, 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.
Granite County ranks 2,376th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Granite County
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.
Granite County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Granite County ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 84% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 76% of counties
Where Granite County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 5% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Granite County
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Granite County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $57,739, 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 Granite County's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 Granite County
Granite County 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 Granite County.
Who works in Granite County, and how
Work in Granite County centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Granite County
Granite County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Granite County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Granite County growing, and who is moving in?
Granite County has grown about 14% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Sanders County, MT.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Granite County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Granite County, month by month
Granite County sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 6. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 19° | 6° |
| April | 54° | 38° | 24° |
| July | 85° | 66° | 45° |
| October | 58° | 41° | 27° |
Flying in and out of Granite County
The nearest airport, Missoula Montana, is about 49 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 244 miles away.
The best schools in and around Granite County
Schools across Granite County average a C, better than 39% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Elk City SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Hall SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Drummond SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Philipsburg 7-8C− · 31% proficient
- Drummond 7-8D− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Timberline High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Salmon Jr/sr High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Drummond High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Granite County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Granite County 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 Granite County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Granite County
Is Granite County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Granite County ranks 2,376th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on clean air, low property taxes, and low taxes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Granite County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $348,255. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $57,739 median income, cost of living beats 5% of counties.
Is Granite County safe?
Granite County is safer than 50% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $471 per resident a year.
Compare Granite County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Granite County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Granite County 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.
Granite County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Granite County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Granite County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Granite County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Granite County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Granite County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.