Best PlacesTrout Creek, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Trout Creek, 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.
Trout Creek ranks 26,450th 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 Trout Creek
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.
Trout Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Trout Creek ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 95% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 87% of towns
Where Trout Creek ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,009 a month, better than only 24% of towns
- Short commute31.8 minutes each way, better than only 25% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Trout Creek
A household needs to earn about $135,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Trout Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $71,152, 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 Trout Creek's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 Trout Creek
Trout Creek runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Trout Creek.
Who works in Trout Creek, and how
Work in Trout Creek centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Trout Creek
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Trout Creek.
What the weather is like in Trout Creek, month by month
Trout Creek sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 74 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs July and August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 23° | 18° |
| April | 43° | 33° | 26° |
| July | 74° | 62° | 53° |
| October | 47° | 38° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Trout Creek
The nearest airport, Glacier Park International, is about 70 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 295 miles away.
The best schools in and around Trout Creek
Schools across Trout Creek average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Libby Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Thompson Falls Elem SchlB− · 40% proficient
- Trout Creek SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Libby Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Thompson Falls 7-8C · 35% proficient
- Trout Creek 7-8D+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Thompson Falls High SchlC− · 30% proficient
- Libby High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Noxon High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Trout Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Trout Creek 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 Trout Creek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Trout Creek
Is Trout Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Trout Creek ranks 26,450th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, a strong job market, and low 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 Trout Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $535,462. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $71,152 median income, cost of living beats 26% of towns.
Is Trout Creek safe?
Yes, Trout Creek is safer than 87% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $277 per resident a year.
Compare Trout Creek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Trout Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Trout Creek 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.
Trout Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Trout Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Trout Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Trout Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Trout Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Trout Creek 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.