Best PlacesIsmay, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ismay, 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.
Ismay ranks 18,364th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Distance from a big city pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Ismay
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.
Ismay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ismay ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 125 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of towns
- Short commute21.7 minutes each way, better than 81% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 78% of towns
Where Ismay ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,106 a month, better than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ismay
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ismay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $66,274; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Ismay's effective rate of 0.44%, 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 Ismay
Ismay 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 Ismay.
Who works in Ismay, and how
Work in Ismay centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Ismay
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ismay.
What the weather is like in Ismay, month by month
Ismay sees roughly 125 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 20° | 8° |
| April | 57° | 41° | 27° |
| July | 90° | 73° | 55° |
| October | 60° | 44° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Ismay
The nearest airport, Sidney-Richland Regional, is about 88 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 458 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ismay
Schools across Ismay average a B−, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Little Powder ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Kircher SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Plevna SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wibaux 7-8C · 35% proficient
- Baker 7-8C− · 30% proficient
- Plevna 7-8D · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Sheridan High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Plevna High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Baker High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ismay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ismay 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 Ismay against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ismay
Is Ismay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ismay ranks 18,364th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, low property taxes, and the weather, 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 Ismay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $294,508. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $66,274 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Ismay safe?
Ismay is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $406 per resident a year.
Compare Ismay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ismay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ismay 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.
Ismay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ismay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ismay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ismay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ismay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ismay 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.