Best PlacesValier, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Valier, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Valier ranks 31,772nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Valier
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.
Valier's strengths and weaknesses
Where Valier ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 148 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
Where Valier ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 5% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Valier
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Valier home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $53,763, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Valier's effective rate of 0.54%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Valier
Valier runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Valier.
Who works in Valier, and how
Work in Valier centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 18%
Life in Valier
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Valier.
What the weather is like in Valier, month by month
Valier sees roughly 148 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 23° | 13° |
| April | 55° | 40° | 27° |
| July | 85° | 67° | 49° |
| October | 57° | 42° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Valier
The nearest airport, Great Falls International, is about 70 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 378 miles away.
The best schools in and around Valier
Schools across Valier average a D+, better than 15% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hope Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Shelby Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Meadowlark SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Utterback 4-6B− · 43% proficient
- Shelby 7-8C− · 30% proficient
- Valier 7-8D · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Conrad High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Shelby High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Valier High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Valier school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Valier 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 Valier against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Valier
Is Valier a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Valier ranks 31,772nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, quiet, and the weather, 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 Valier expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $205,789. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $53,763 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is Valier safe?
Valier is safer than 29% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $508 per resident a year.
Compare Valier with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Valier. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Valier 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.
Valier detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Valier: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Valier: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Valier: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Valier: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Valier 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.