Best PlacesHalfmoon, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Halfmoon, 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.
Halfmoon ranks 7,077th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Halfmoon
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.
Halfmoon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Halfmoon ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
Where Halfmoon ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,050 a month, better than only 22% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 30% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Halfmoon
A household needs to earn about $148,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Halfmoon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $83,097, 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 Halfmoon's effective rate of 0.48%, 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 Halfmoon
Halfmoon 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 Halfmoon.
Who works in Halfmoon, and how
Work in Halfmoon centers on construction and health care & social. 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 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Halfmoon
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Halfmoon.
What the weather is like in Halfmoon, month by month
Halfmoon sees roughly 92 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 Halfmoon
The nearest airport, Glacier Park International, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 345 miles away.
The best schools in and around Halfmoon
Schools across Halfmoon average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- L A Muldown SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Ruder ElementaryB · 46% proficient
Top middle schools
- Whitefish Middle 5-8B+ · 50% proficient
- Columbia Falls Jr HsB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Whitefish High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Columbia Falls High SchlD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Halfmoon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Halfmoon 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 Halfmoon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Halfmoon
Is Halfmoon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Halfmoon ranks 7,077th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, population health, and civic engagement, and lowest on an overheated housing market 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 Halfmoon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $594,058. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $83,097 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Halfmoon safe?
Yes, Halfmoon is safer than 97% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $193 per resident a year.
Compare Halfmoon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Halfmoon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Halfmoon 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.
Halfmoon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Halfmoon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Halfmoon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Halfmoon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Halfmoon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Halfmoon 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.