Best PlacesSeeley Lake, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Seeley Lake, 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.
Seeley Lake ranks 34,880th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Seeley Lake
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.
Seeley Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Seeley Lake ranks high
- QuietBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute18.4 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 85% of towns
Where Seeley Lake ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Seeley Lake
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Seeley Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $48,145, 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 Seeley Lake's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 Seeley Lake
Seeley Lake 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 Seeley Lake.
Who works in Seeley Lake, and how
Work in Seeley Lake centers on retail trade and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Seeley Lake
Seeley Lake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Seeley Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Seeley Lake, month by month
Seeley Lake sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 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° | 24° | 16° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 31° |
| July | 91° | 71° | 51° |
| October | 60° | 44° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Seeley Lake
The nearest airport, Missoula Montana, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 283 miles away.
The best schools in and around Seeley Lake
Schools across Seeley Lake average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sunset SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Swan Valley SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Seeley Lake ElementaryC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Swan Valley 7-8A+ · 75% proficient
- Seeley Lake 7-8B+ · 50% proficient
- Arlee 7-8D− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Seeley-swan High SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Powell County High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
- Arlee High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Seeley Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Seeley Lake 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 Seeley Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Seeley Lake
Is Seeley Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Seeley Lake ranks 34,880th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, short commutes, and civic engagement, and lowest on air quality 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 Seeley Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $342,996. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $48,145 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Seeley Lake safe?
Seeley Lake is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $485 per resident a year.
Compare Seeley Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Seeley Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Seeley Lake 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.
Seeley Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Seeley Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Seeley Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Seeley Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Seeley Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Seeley Lake 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.