Best PlacesUlm, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ulm, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ulm ranks 17,780th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ulm
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.
Ulm's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ulm ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 83% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 81% of towns
- Household income$94,026 median, better than 80% of towns
Where Ulm ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ulm
A household needs to earn about $98,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ulm home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $94,026; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Ulm's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Ulm
Ulm runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ulm.
Who works in Ulm, and how
Work in Ulm centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Ulm
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ulm.
What the weather is like in Ulm, month by month
Ulm sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 27° | 16° |
| April | 57° | 43° | 30° |
| July | 88° | 70° | 51° |
| October | 60° | 45° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Ulm
The nearest airport, Great Falls International, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 350 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ulm
Schools across Ulm average a B−, better than 56% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Meadow Lark SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Ulm SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Cascade SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Cascade 6-8B · 45% proficient
- Ulm Junior HighC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- C M Russell High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Cascade High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ulm school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ulm 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 Ulm against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ulm
Is Ulm a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ulm ranks 17,780th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, low taxes, and heat safety, 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 Ulm expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $384,328. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $94,026 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Ulm safe?
Yes, Ulm is safer than 79% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $286 per resident a year.
Compare Ulm with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ulm. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ulm 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.
Ulm detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ulm: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ulm: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ulm: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ulm: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ulm 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.