Cascade County, MT

County Profile

84,606 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Cascade County, MT.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

65out of 100
Area Score
Top 39% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 44% of 1,255 counties measured58
Growth776th of 1,226 counties measured43
Housing affordability738th of 1,255 counties measured90
Climate1118th of 1,254 counties measured56
Physical resilienceTop 36% of 1,255 counties measured71
AccessTop 19% of 1,255 counties measured94
Economic stabilityTop 47% of 1,255 counties measured64
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.4% and median household income $67,690, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.

Rent takes 17% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.9 times that income.

A major airport is 11 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
84,606
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$67,690
Top 42% nationally
Density
31/sq mi
2698.2 sq mi of land
Median age
38.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Cascade County
Montana
Metro area
Great Falls, MT
Nearest major airport
GTF
11 mi · Great Falls Intl
Median home value
$265,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.4% is lower than 83% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 1.2% over the past year, to 37,849 employed residents.

28% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 72% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$2,796$67,690Top 42%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,587$38,795Top 30%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate13.1%Bottom 48%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.0 minBottom 8%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher28.4%Top 28%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment37,849Bottom 47%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.8%Bottom 24%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.2%Bottom 37%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force39,186Bottom 46%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation62.9%Top 28%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.2%Top 42%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate3.4%Bottom 17%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/063.82.1
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.4% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202468k56k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $67,690 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Great Falls, MT
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,340$28,200
Retail Salespersons1,130$35,000
Home Health and Personal Care Aides990$34,540
Registered Nurses880$78,290
Stockers and Order Fillers790$36,760
Cashiers760$31,320

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

38% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 47% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
43
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
37.8%
Reading proficiency
46.9%
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Great Falls High SchoolGreat Falls H S1,54815.2
C M Russell High SchoolGreat Falls H S1,41216.4
North Middle SchoolGreat Falls Elem76415.035%53%
East Middle SchoolGreat Falls Elem76413.633%46%
Meadow Lark SchoolGreat Falls Elem52720.362%65%
Riverview SchoolGreat Falls Elem44521.257%66%
Giant Springs ElementaryGreat Falls Elem43114.927%41%
West ElementaryGreat Falls Elem42114.013%22%
Sacajawea SchoolGreat Falls Elem40518.438%51%
Sunnyside SchoolGreat Falls Elem39615.837%41%
Loy SchoolGreat Falls Elem39217.845%50%
Lincoln SchoolGreat Falls Elem37316.237%55%

53.3% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Montana’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $939 takes 17% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.9 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
16.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$939
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$265,300
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.92Top 22%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate68.5%Bottom 24%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±6739,497Top 21%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$28$939Top 38%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$7,950$265,300Top 25%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income16.6%Bottom 45%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate9.8%Bottom 29%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
43/ 100
Ranks 776 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has been broadly flat since 2020, at 84,523 in 2024.

At 3.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
250
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
3.0
Top 50% nationally
Year over year
+29%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
30.4%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202485k84k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202020212022202320242025543151
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+68%).

Weather & climate

4 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 84°F and January a low of 15°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 14.8 inches, including 66.1 inches of snow.

0°20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station GREAT FALLS INTL AP, 10.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND2.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation14.8"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall66.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low15°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high84°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months41991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing43°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

71 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, cold wave and earthquake.

Cold waveModerate
WildfireModerate
Inland floodingElevated
LandslideModerate
EarthquakeModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, avalanche, lightning, strong wind, hail, drought, ice storm, tornado.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Cascade County records 4.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 22.4 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 21.2 per 100,000 residents in Cascade County.

Homicide
4.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
22.4
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
21.2
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
31.8
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Cascade County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Cascade County rather than Cascade County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 11 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Great Falls IntlGTF11 mi10,502 ft
Helena RgnlHLN57 mi9,000 ft
Bozeman Yellowstone IntlBZN107 mi8,994 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
65
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

Cities in Cascade County, MT