Best PlacesThree Forks, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Three Forks, 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.
Three Forks ranks 13,825th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Three Forks
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.
Three Forks' strengths and weaknesses
Where Three Forks ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
Where Three Forks ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Three Forks
A household needs to earn about $111,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Three Forks home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,860, 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 Three Forks' effective rate of 0.54%, 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 Three Forks
Three Forks runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Three Forks.
Who works in Three Forks, and how
Work in Three Forks centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Three Forks
Three Forks has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Three Forks and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Three Forks, month by month
Three Forks sees roughly 122 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 21° | 7° |
| April | 58° | 42° | 26° |
| July | 89° | 69° | 49° |
| October | 60° | 43° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Three Forks
The nearest airport, Bozeman Yellowstone International, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 281 miles away.
The best schools in and around Three Forks
Schools across Three Forks average a C+, better than 49% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Meadowlark ElementaryA · 64% proficient
- Salmon Pioneer Primary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Three Forks Elem SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Powell Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Chief Joseph Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Willow Creek 7-8B+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Bozeman High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Manhattan H SB+ · 52% proficient
- Whitehall High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Three Forks school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Three Forks 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 Three Forks against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Three Forks
Is Three Forks a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Three Forks ranks 13,825th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, a strong job market, and biking, and lowest on internet speeds 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 Three Forks expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $440,905. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $76,860 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Three Forks safe?
Yes, Three Forks is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $242 per resident a year.
Compare Three Forks with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Three Forks. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Three Forks 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.
Three Forks detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Three Forks: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Three Forks: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Three Forks: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Three Forks: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Three Forks 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.