Best PlacesPlentywood, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Plentywood, 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.
Plentywood ranks 14,271st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Plentywood
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.
Plentywood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Plentywood ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute10.5 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 179 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
Where Plentywood ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 20% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Plentywood
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Plentywood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,384, 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 Plentywood's effective rate of 1.09%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Plentywood
Plentywood 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 Plentywood.
Who works in Plentywood, and how
Work in Plentywood centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 19%
Life in Plentywood
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Plentywood.
What the weather is like in Plentywood, month by month
Plentywood sees roughly 179 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 16° | 9° |
| April | 54° | 40° | 31° |
| July | 84° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 56° | 43° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Plentywood
The nearest airport, Williston Basin International, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 598 miles away.
The best schools in and around Plentywood
Schools across Plentywood average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Westby SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Plentywood SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Medicine Lake SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Medicine Lake 7-8B+ · 50% proficient
- Plentywood 7-8D+ · 26% proficient
- Westby 7-8D+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Medicine Lake High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Plentywood High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Plentywood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Plentywood 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 Plentywood against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Plentywood
Is Plentywood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Plentywood ranks 14,271st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, short commutes, 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 Plentywood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $161,957. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $66,384 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Plentywood safe?
Plentywood is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $558 per resident a year.
Compare Plentywood with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Plentywood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Plentywood 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.
Plentywood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Plentywood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Plentywood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Plentywood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Plentywood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Plentywood 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.