Best PlacesShepherd, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shepherd, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Shepherd ranks 13,205th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Tree cover pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Shepherd
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.
Shepherd's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shepherd ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 133 pleasant days a year, better than 86% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 81% of towns
Where Shepherd ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,074 a month, better than only 21% of towns
- School gradeC, better than only 35% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shepherd
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shepherd home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,903, 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 Shepherd's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Shepherd
Shepherd runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Shepherd.
Who works in Shepherd, and how
Work in Shepherd centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Shepherd
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shepherd.
What the weather is like in Shepherd, month by month
Shepherd sees roughly 133 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 27° | 17° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 92° | 75° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 48° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Shepherd
The nearest airport, Billings Logan International, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Salt Lake City International, about 401 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shepherd
Schools across Shepherd average a C, better than 35% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Broadview SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Rocky Mountain ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Huntley Project Elem K-6B− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Broadview 7-8A · 60% proficient
- Rocky Mountain Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Shepherd Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Rocky Mountain High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Broadview High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Shepherd High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shepherd school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shepherd 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 Shepherd against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shepherd
Is Shepherd a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shepherd ranks 13,205th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, cell coverage, and the weather, 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 Shepherd expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $366,919. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $78,903 median income, cost of living beats 45% of towns.
Is Shepherd safe?
Yes, Shepherd is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $287 per resident a year.
Compare Shepherd with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shepherd. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shepherd 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.
Shepherd detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shepherd: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shepherd: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shepherd: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shepherd: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shepherd 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.