Best PlacesHelena, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Helena metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime read low across the board, which puts the choice down to which part suits you. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by RTC at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via wiki
Helena ranks 58th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It earns the spot by being affordable and steady rather than flashy: everyday costs run well below the national average, and crime is low. The trade is distance from a big city: the nearest large city and its jobs, flights, and culture are a drive away.
The best neighborhoods in the Helena 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.
The best areas in Helena
The towns and districts of the Helena metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Downtown Helena
Biking is better, streets are more walkable, and commutes are shorter.
Helena Valley West Central, Helena Valley Northwest & Helena Valley Northeast
Fewer homes sit empty and more households have young kids.
Helena Valley Southeast & East Helena
Fewer residents vote.
Whitehall
It is quieter, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Townsend
Prices have run up more and advertised internet is slower.
Scores across Helena run from about the 19th to the 97th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Helena's strengths and weaknesses
Helena ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Civic engagement is the standout, in the top 3% of metro areas. A strong job market and low crime follow.
The one real hole is distance from a big city, near the bottom of the country. Internet speeds and an overheated housing market also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Helena ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 150 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of metro areas
Where Helena ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than only 30% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,032 a month, better than only 33% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Helena
A household needs to earn about $105,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Helena home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $82,026, 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 Helena's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 Helena
Helena 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 Helena.
Who works in Helena, and how
Work in Helena centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Helena
Helena has more parkland per resident than 71% of metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of Helena and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Helena growing, and who is moving in?
Helena has grown about 17% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Bozeman, MT.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Helena go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Helena, month by month
Helena sees roughly 150 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 23° | 12° |
| April | 60° | 44° | 31° |
| July | 91° | 73° | 55° |
| October | 61° | 46° | 33° |
Flying in and out of Helena
The nearest airport, Helena Regional, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 293 miles away.
The best schools in and around Helena
Schools across Helena average a B−, better than 61% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Trinity SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Elk City SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Jefferson SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Montana City Middle SchlA− · 58% proficient
- Clancy 7-8A− · 53% proficient
- Augusta 7-8B+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Helena High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Capital High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Jefferson High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Helena school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Helena 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 Helena against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Helena suits
Retirees
The weather beats 87% of metro areas, health care access beats 88%, and it is quieter than 74%.
Common questions about living in Helena
Is Helena a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Helena ranks 58th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on civic engagement, a strong job market, and low crime, and lowest on distance from a big city and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Helena expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $408,119. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $82,026 median income, cost of living beats 51% of metro areas.
Is Helena safe?
Yes, Helena is safer than 90% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $316 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Helena?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 12. That works out to about 150 pleasant days a year, more than 87% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Helena?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Downtown Helena, Helena Valley West Central, Helena Valley Northwest & Helena Valley Northeast, and Helena Valley Southeast & East Helena. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Helena good for families?
Schools beat 61% of metro areas, crime safety beats 90%, and childcare runs $1,032 a month.
Is Helena good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 51% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 12% of metro areas. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Helena with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Helena. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Helena 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.
Helena detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Helena: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Helena: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Helena: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Helena: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Helena 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.