Best PlacesPortage, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Portage, 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.
Portage ranks 14,465th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Portage
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.
Portage's strengths and weaknesses
Where Portage ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 87% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Short commute21.7 minutes each way, better than 81% of towns
Where Portage ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Portage
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Portage home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,467, 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 Portage's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Portage
Portage runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Portage.
Who works in Portage, and how
Work in Portage centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Portage
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Portage.
What the weather is like in Portage, month by month
Portage sees roughly 111 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 26° | 16° |
| April | 57° | 43° | 29° |
| July | 88° | 71° | 53° |
| October | 60° | 45° | 33° |
Flying in and out of Portage
The nearest airport, Great Falls International, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 374 miles away.
The best schools in and around Portage
Schools across Portage average a B−, better than 63% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Highwood SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Benton Lake SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Belt SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Belt 7-8A+ · 70% proficient
- North Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Highwood Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Fort Benton High SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- C M Russell High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Centerville High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Portage school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Portage 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 Portage against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Portage
Is Portage a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Portage ranks 14,465th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, low taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on tree cover 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 Portage expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $243,748. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $86,467 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Portage safe?
Portage is safer than 53% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $389 per resident a year.
Compare Portage with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Portage. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Portage 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.
Portage detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Portage: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Portage: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Portage: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Portage: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Portage 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.