Best PlacesMissoula, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Missoula metro, 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.
Photo by Ken Eckert, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Missoula ranks 123rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on clean air and short commutes. The weaker spots are an overheated housing market, distance from a big city, and internet speeds.
The best neighborhoods in the Missoula metro
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.
Missoula's strengths and weaknesses
Missoula lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Clean air, short commutes, and an educated workforce carry most of that.
The one real hole is an overheated housing market, near the bottom of the country. Distance from a big city and internet speeds also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Missoula to another than it does between Missoula and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Missoula ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of metro areas
- Short commute18.5 minutes each way, better than 94% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than 90% of metro areas
Where Missoula ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than only 11% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 27% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,035 a month, better than only 33% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Missoula
A household needs to earn about $130,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Missoula home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $82,712, 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 Missoula's effective rate of 0.79%, 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 Missoula
Missoula's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Missoula.
Who works in Missoula, and how
Work in Missoula 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 76%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Missoula
Missoula has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 74% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Missoula and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Missoula growing, and who is moving in?
Missoula has grown about 9% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Flathead County, MT.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Missoula go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Missoula, month by month
Missoula sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 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° | 24° | 16° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 31° |
| July | 91° | 71° | 51° |
| October | 60° | 44° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Missoula
The nearest airport, Missoula Montana, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 252 miles away.
The best schools in and around Missoula
Schools across Missoula average a B−, better than 59% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Elk City SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Rattlesnake Elementary SchoolA · 71% proficient
- Jeannette Rankin ElA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hellgate Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Seeley Lake 7-8B+ · 50% proficient
- Potomac 7-8B+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Hellgate High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Sentinel High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Alberton High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Missoula school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Missoula 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 Missoula against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Missoula suits
Retirees
The weather beats 73% of metro areas and health care access beats 70%.
Common questions about living in Missoula
Is Missoula a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Missoula ranks 123rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on clean air, short commutes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on an overheated housing market and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Missoula expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $496,793. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $82,712 median income, cost of living beats 27% of metro areas.
Is Missoula safe?
Missoula is safer than 40% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $489 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Missoula?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 16. That works out to about 120 pleasant days a year, more than 73% of metro areas.
Is Missoula good for families?
Schools beat 59% of metro areas, crime safety beats 40%, and childcare runs $1,035 a month.
Is Missoula good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 27% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 11% of metro areas. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare Missoula with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Missoula. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Missoula 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.
Missoula detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Missoula: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Missoula: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Missoula: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Missoula: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Missoula 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.