Best PlacesLodge Pole, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lodge Pole, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lodge Pole ranks 47,399th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lodge Pole
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.
Lodge Pole's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lodge Pole ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of towns
Where Lodge Pole ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lodge Pole
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lodge Pole home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,241, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Lodge Pole's effective rate of 0.07%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lodge Pole
Lodge Pole runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lodge Pole.
Who works in Lodge Pole, and how
Work in Lodge Pole centers on public administration and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Lodge Pole
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lodge Pole.
What the weather is like in Lodge Pole, month by month
Lodge Pole sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 27° | 17° |
| April | 56° | 43° | 30° |
| July | 88° | 73° | 56° |
| October | 60° | 46° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Lodge Pole
The nearest airport, Havre City-County, is about 65 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 482 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lodge Pole
Schools across Lodge Pole average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Malta K-5B · 50% proficient
- Harlem Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Dodson SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Malta 6-7-8B− · 40% proficient
- Dodson 7-8D+ · 25% proficient
- Harlem 7-8F · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Dodson High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Hays-lodge Pole High SchD+ · 25% proficient
- Malta High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lodge Pole school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lodge Pole 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 Lodge Pole against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lodge Pole
Is Lodge Pole a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lodge Pole ranks 47,399th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, quiet, and heat safety, and lowest on a weak job market and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lodge Pole expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $111,075. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $49,241 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Lodge Pole safe?
Lodge Pole is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,107 per resident a year.
Compare Lodge Pole with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lodge Pole. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lodge Pole 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.
Lodge Pole detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lodge Pole: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lodge Pole: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lodge Pole: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lodge Pole: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lodge Pole 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.