Best PlacesSummit Valley, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Summit Valley, 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 Valley ranks 24,325th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Summit Valley
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 Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Summit Valley ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 91% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
Where Summit Valley ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Summit Valley
A household needs to earn about $115,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Summit Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $75,367, 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 Valley's effective rate of 0.35%, 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 Valley
Summit Valley runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Summit Valley.
Who works in Summit Valley, and how
Work in Summit Valley centers on agriculture & forestry and wholesale trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Summit Valley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Summit Valley.
What the weather is like in Summit Valley, month by month
Summit Valley sees roughly 129 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 6. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 19° | 6° |
| April | 54° | 38° | 24° |
| July | 85° | 66° | 45° |
| October | 58° | 41° | 27° |
Flying in and out of Summit Valley
The nearest airport, Bert Mooney, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 261 miles away.
The best schools in and around Summit Valley
Schools across Summit Valley average a B−, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Twin Bridges SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Whitehall ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Willow Creek SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harrison 6-8A+ · 75% proficient
- Willow Creek 7-8B+ · 50% proficient
- Twin Bridges Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Harrison High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Whitehall High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Twin Bridges High SchoolC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Summit Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Summit Valley 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 Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Summit Valley
Is Summit Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Summit Valley ranks 24,325th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, heat safety, and low property taxes, and lowest on an overheated housing market 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 Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $467,027. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $75,367 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Summit Valley safe?
Summit Valley is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $404 per resident a year.
Compare Summit Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Summit Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Summit Valley 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 Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Summit Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Summit Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Summit Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Summit Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Summit Valley 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.