Best PlacesPhillips County, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Phillips County, 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.
Phillips County ranks 1,594th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Phillips 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.
Phillips County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Phillips County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of counties
- Short commute15.6 minutes each way, better than 94% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 146 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 85% of counties
Where Phillips County ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of counties
- Household income$53,885 median, better than only 14% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,018 a month, better than only 16% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Phillips County
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Phillips County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $53,885; 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 Phillips County's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 Phillips County
Phillips County 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 Phillips County.
Who works in Phillips County, and how
Work in Phillips County centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Phillips County
Phillips County has more parkland per resident than 94% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Phillips County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Phillips County growing, and who is moving in?
Phillips County has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New York, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Phillips County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Phillips County, month by month
Phillips County sees roughly 146 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 17° | 7° |
| April | 60° | 44° | 30° |
| July | 91° | 74° | 58° |
| October | 61° | 45° | 33° |
Flying in and out of Phillips County
The nearest airport, Wokal Field/Glasgow-Valley County, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 520 miles away.
The best schools in and around Phillips County
Schools across Phillips County average a C+, better than 46% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Whitewater SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Malta K-5B · 50% proficient
- Saco SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Saco 7-8A+ · 75% proficient
- Whitewater 6-8B+ · 50% proficient
- Malta 6-7-8B− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Dodson High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Malta High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Phillips County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Phillips 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 Phillips County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Phillips County
Is Phillips County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Phillips County ranks 1,594th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, short commutes, and the weather, and lowest on internet speeds 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 Phillips County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $218,547. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $53,885 median income, cost of living beats 22% of counties.
Is Phillips County safe?
Phillips County is safer than 18% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $613 per resident a year.
Compare Phillips County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Phillips County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Phillips 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.
Phillips County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Phillips County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Phillips County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Phillips County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Phillips County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Phillips 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.