Best PlacesSummit, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Summit, 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.
Summit ranks 38,845th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Summit
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.
Summit's strengths and weaknesses
Where Summit ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Summit ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Summit
A household needs to earn about $88,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Summit home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,705, 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 Summit's effective rate of 0.33%, 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 Summit
Summit 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 Summit.
Who works in Summit, and how
Work in Summit centers on construction and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Summit
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Summit.
What the weather is like in Summit, month by month
Summit sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 77 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 47° | 37° | 29° |
| July | 77° | 62° | 47° |
| October | 51° | 41° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Summit
The nearest airport, Glacier Park International, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 353 miles away.
The best schools in and around Summit
Schools across Summit average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Glacier SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Ruder ElementaryB · 46% proficient
- East Glacier Park SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Columbia Falls Jr HsB− · 39% proficient
- Heart Butte 6-8F · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Columbia Falls High SchlD+ · 25% proficient
- Heart Butte High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Browning High SchoolF · 5% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Summit school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Summit 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 Summit against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Summit
Is Summit a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Summit ranks 38,845th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, clean air, and low property taxes, and lowest on cell coverage 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 Summit expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $358,748. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $60,705 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Summit safe?
Summit is safer than 27% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $522 per resident a year.
Compare Summit with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Summit. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Summit 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.
Summit detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Summit: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Summit: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Summit: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Summit: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Summit 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.