Best PlacesHelena West Side, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Helena West Side, 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.
Helena West Side ranks 4,080th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Helena West Side
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.
Helena West Side's strengths and weaknesses
Where Helena West Side ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 154 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
Where Helena West Side ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,023 a month, better than only 24% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Helena West Side
A household needs to earn about $104,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Helena West Side home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $71,359, 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 West Side's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 West Side
Helena West Side 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 West Side.
Who works in Helena West Side, and how
Work in Helena West Side 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 69%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Helena West Side
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Helena West Side.
What the weather is like in Helena West Side, month by month
Helena West Side sees roughly 154 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 West Side
The nearest airport, Helena Regional, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 292 miles away.
The best schools in and around Helena West Side
Schools across Helena West Side average a B−, better than 58% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hawthorne SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Kessler Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Broadwater SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- C R Anderson Middle SchlB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Capital High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Helena West Side school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Helena West Side 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 West Side against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Helena West Side
Is Helena West Side a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Helena West Side ranks 4,080th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, cell coverage, and population health, and lowest on distance from a big city and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Helena West Side expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $396,231. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $71,359 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Helena West Side safe?
Yes, Helena West Side is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $282 per resident a year.
Compare Helena West Side with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Helena West Side. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Helena West Side 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 West Side detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Helena West Side: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Helena West Side: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Helena West Side: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Helena West Side: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Helena West Side 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.