Best PlacesWhitefish, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Whitefish, 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.
Whitefish ranks 6,703rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Whitefish
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.
Whitefish's strengths and weaknesses
Where Whitefish ranks high
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute18.0 minutes each way, better than 93% of towns
Where Whitefish ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,050 a month, better than only 22% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 31% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 35% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Whitefish
A household needs to earn about $165,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Whitefish home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $84,343, 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 Whitefish's effective rate of 0.49%, 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 Whitefish
Whitefish runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Whitefish.
Who works in Whitefish, and how
Work in Whitefish centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Whitefish
Whitefish has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Whitefish and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Whitefish, month by month
Whitefish sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 58° | 43° | 28° |
| July | 87° | 68° | 47° |
| October | 58° | 42° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Whitefish
The nearest airport, Glacier Park International, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 346 miles away.
The best schools in and around Whitefish
Schools across Whitefish average a B+, better than 74% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- L A Muldown SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- West Valley SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Ruder ElementaryB · 46% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Valley Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Whitefish Middle 5-8B+ · 50% proficient
- Columbia Falls Jr HsB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Whitefish High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Glacier High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Columbia Falls High SchlD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Whitefish school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Whitefish 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 Whitefish against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Whitefish
Is Whitefish a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Whitefish ranks 6,703rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, population health, and an educated workforce, 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 Whitefish expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $658,562. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $84,343 median income, cost of living beats 49% of towns.
Is Whitefish safe?
Yes, Whitefish is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $312 per resident a year.
Compare Whitefish with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Whitefish. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Whitefish 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.
Whitefish detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Whitefish: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Whitefish: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Whitefish: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Whitefish: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Whitefish 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.