Best PlacesLake County, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lake County, 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.
Lake County ranks 1,721st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lake County
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 Lake County
The parts of Lake County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Bigfork
Tree cover is thicker, more adults hold degrees, and incomes run higher.
Polson & Pablo
Fewer homes sit empty and homes cost less.
St. Ignatius
More households have young kids and prices have run up less.
Scores across Lake County run from about the 19th to the 67th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Lake County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lake County ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 90% of counties
- QuietBetter than 87% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 82% of counties
Where Lake County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 10% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,064 a month, better than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Lake County
A household needs to earn about $107,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $63,975, 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 Lake County's effective rate of 0.49%, 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 Lake County
Lake County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lake County.
Who works in Lake County, and how
Work in Lake County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lake County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lake County.
Is Lake County growing, and who is moving in?
Lake County has grown about 14% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Missoula, MT.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lake County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lake County, month by month
Lake County sees roughly 108 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 Lake County
The nearest airport, Missoula Montana, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 297 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lake County
Schools across Lake County average a C−, better than 20% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Charlo ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Bigfork ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
- Linderman SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bigfork 7-8A− · 53% proficient
- Charlo 6-8B+ · 50% proficient
- Polson Middle SchoolC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Bigfork High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Charlo High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Polson High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake County 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 Lake County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Lake County suits
Families
Schools land around the 20th percentile and crime safety beats 60%.
Common questions about living in Lake County
Is Lake County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake County ranks 1,721st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on clean air, a strong job market, and quiet, and lowest on an overheated housing market and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $426,598. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $63,975 median income, cost of living beats 10% of counties.
Is Lake County safe?
Yes, Lake County is safer than 60% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $415 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lake County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 16. That works out to about 108 pleasant days a year, more than 66% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lake County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Bigfork, Polson & Pablo, and St. Ignatius. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Lake County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake County 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.
Lake County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake County 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.