Best PlacesSalmon Prairie, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Salmon Prairie, 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.
Salmon Prairie ranks 30,185th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Salmon Prairie
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.
Salmon Prairie's strengths and weaknesses
Where Salmon Prairie ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 90% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
Where Salmon Prairie ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Salmon Prairie
A household needs to earn about $163,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Salmon Prairie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $73,861, 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 Salmon Prairie's effective rate of 0.42%, 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 Salmon Prairie
Salmon Prairie 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 Salmon Prairie.
Who works in Salmon Prairie, and how
Work in Salmon Prairie centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Salmon Prairie
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Salmon Prairie.
What the weather is like in Salmon Prairie, month by month
Salmon Prairie sees roughly 102 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 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° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 58° | 43° | 28° |
| July | 87° | 68° | 47° |
| October | 58° | 42° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Salmon Prairie
The nearest airport, Missoula Montana, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 304 miles away.
The best schools in and around Salmon Prairie
Schools across Salmon Prairie average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Swan Valley SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Ruder ElementaryB · 46% proficient
Top middle schools
- Swan Valley 7-8A+ · 75% proficient
- Columbia Falls Jr HsB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Bigfork High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Columbia Falls High SchlD+ · 25% proficient
- Seeley-swan High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Salmon Prairie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Salmon Prairie 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 Salmon Prairie against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Salmon Prairie
Is Salmon Prairie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Salmon Prairie ranks 30,185th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, an educated workforce, and a strong job market, and lowest on an overheated housing market and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Salmon Prairie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $655,775. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $73,861 median income, cost of living beats 27% of towns.
Is Salmon Prairie safe?
Salmon Prairie is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $450 per resident a year.
Compare Salmon Prairie with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Salmon Prairie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Salmon Prairie 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.
Salmon Prairie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Salmon Prairie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Salmon Prairie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Salmon Prairie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Salmon Prairie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Salmon Prairie 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.