Best PlacesMelstone, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Melstone, 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.
Melstone ranks 24,031st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Melstone
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.
Melstone's strengths and weaknesses
Where Melstone ranks high
- QuietBetter than 91% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 132 pleasant days a year, better than 86% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 72% of towns
Where Melstone ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,105 a month, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Melstone
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Melstone home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,954, 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 Melstone'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, 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 Melstone
Melstone 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 Melstone.
Who works in Melstone, and how
Work in Melstone centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Melstone
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Melstone.
What the weather is like in Melstone, month by month
Melstone sees roughly 132 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 27° | 17° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 92° | 75° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 48° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Melstone
The nearest airport, Billings Logan International, is about 64 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Salt Lake City International, about 451 miles away.
The best schools in and around Melstone
Schools across Melstone average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Winnett SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Melstone SchoolD+ · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- Winnett 7-8B+ · 50% proficient
- Melstone Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Melstone High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Winnett High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Roundup H SD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Melstone school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Melstone 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 Melstone against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Melstone
Is Melstone a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Melstone ranks 24,031st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, low 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 Melstone expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $272,562. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $71,954 median income, cost of living beats 49% of towns.
Is Melstone safe?
Melstone is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $383 per resident a year.
Compare Melstone with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Melstone. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Melstone 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.
Melstone detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Melstone: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Melstone: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Melstone: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Melstone: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Melstone 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.