Best PlacesGreat Falls, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Great Falls metro, 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.
Photo by Montanabw, CC BY-SA 3.0, via wiki
Great Falls ranks 132nd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on short commutes and low disaster risk. The weaker spots are distance from a big city, tree cover, and transit.
The best neighborhoods in the Great Falls metro
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.
Great Falls' strengths and weaknesses
Great Falls lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Short commutes is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Low disaster risk and cell coverage follow.
The one real hole is distance from a big city, near the bottom of the country. Tree cover and transit also cost it ground. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Great Falls ranks high
- Short commute16.5 minutes each way, better than 99% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 85% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 85% of metro areas
Where Great Falls ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 26% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than only 27% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Great Falls
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Great Falls home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,713, 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 Great Falls' effective rate of 0.80%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Great Falls
Great Falls'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 Great Falls.
Who works in Great Falls, and how
Work in Great Falls centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Great Falls
Great Falls has more parkland per resident than 89% of metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 99% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Great Falls and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Great Falls growing, and who is moving in?
Great Falls has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Williams County, ND.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Great Falls go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Great Falls, month by month
Great Falls sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 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 | 58° | 42° | 29° |
| July | 89° | 71° | 51° |
| October | 60° | 45° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Great Falls
The nearest airport, Great Falls International, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 362 miles away.
The best schools in and around Great Falls
Schools across Great Falls average a C+, better than 45% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Benton Lake SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Hillcrest Colony ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Meadow Lark SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Belt 7-8A+ · 70% proficient
- Power 7-8B+ · 50% proficient
- North Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Belt High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Dutton/brady High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Power High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Great Falls school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Great Falls 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 Great Falls against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Great Falls suits
Families
Schools land around the 45th percentile and crime safety beats 63%.
Common questions about living in Great Falls
Is Great Falls a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Great Falls ranks 132nd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on short commutes, low disaster risk, and cell coverage, 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 Great Falls expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $274,295. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $74,713 median income, cost of living beats 48% of metro areas.
Is Great Falls safe?
Yes, Great Falls is safer than 63% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $411 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Great Falls?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 16. That works out to about 113 pleasant days a year, more than 69% of metro areas.
Is Great Falls good for families?
Schools beat 45% of metro areas, crime safety beats 63%, and childcare runs $1,039 a month.
Is Great Falls good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 48% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 27% of metro areas. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Great Falls with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Great Falls. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Great Falls 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.
Great Falls detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Great Falls: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Great Falls: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Great Falls: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Great Falls: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Great Falls 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.