Best PlacesRed Lodge, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Red Lodge, 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.
Red Lodge ranks 9,044th 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 Red Lodge
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.
Red Lodge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Red Lodge ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 178 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of towns
Where Red Lodge ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,044 a month, better than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Red Lodge
A household needs to earn about $114,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Red Lodge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $84,764, 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 Red Lodge's effective rate of 0.50%, 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 Red Lodge
Red Lodge 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 Red Lodge.
Who works in Red Lodge, and how
Work in Red Lodge centers on health care & social and mining & oil & gas. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 22%
Life in Red Lodge
Red Lodge has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Red Lodge and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Red Lodge, month by month
Red Lodge sees roughly 178 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 23° | 16° |
| April | 55° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 87° | 71° | 57° |
| October | 56° | 44° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Red Lodge
The nearest airport, Yellowstone Regional, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Salt Lake City International, about 334 miles away.
The best schools in and around Red Lodge
Schools across Red Lodge average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Luther SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Mountain View SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Roberts SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Roosevelt Junior HighC− · 28% proficient
- Belfry 7-8D+ · 25% proficient
- Roberts 7-8D · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Red Lodge High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Roberts High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Red Lodge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Red Lodge 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 Red Lodge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Red Lodge
Is Red Lodge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Red Lodge ranks 9,044th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, the weather, and biking, and lowest on distance from a big city and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Red Lodge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $455,978. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $84,764 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Red Lodge safe?
Red Lodge is safer than 15% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $720 per resident a year.
Compare Red Lodge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Red Lodge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Red Lodge 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.
Red Lodge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Red Lodge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Red Lodge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Red Lodge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Red Lodge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Red Lodge 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.