59901Kalispell, Montana

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 59901.

68out of 100
Area Score
Top 23% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 3% of 6,210 published ZIP areas85
SchoolsTop 38% of 4,422 published ZIP areas61
GrowthTop 1% of 5,428 published ZIP areas92
Housing affordability4531st of 6,685 published ZIP areas68
Climate6666th of 6,789 published ZIP areas53
Physical resilience4659th of 6,709 published ZIP areas39
AccessTop 43% of 6,791 published ZIP areas95
Economic stabilityTop 43% of 6,742 published ZIP areas63
The quick read

59901 ranks in the top 3% of published ZIP profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 2.9% and median household income of $72,523.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 769 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 279% on the prior year.

A major airport is 9 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
63,161
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$72,523
Top 49% nationally
Density
135/sq mi
468.7 sq mi of land
Median age
39.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Kalispell
Montana
Metro area
Kalispell, MT
Nearest major airport
GPI
9 mi · Glacier Park Intl
Median home value
$476,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 2.9% is lower than 97% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment grew 5.6% over the past year, to 17,582 employed residents.

34% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 72% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$2,721$72,523Top 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,832$38,447Top 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate9.9%Bottom 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute20.0 minBottom 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher33.7%Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment17,582Bottom 15%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)10.8%Top 1%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)5.6%Top 1%June 2026
Labor force18,104Bottom 15%June 2026
Labor force participation64.4%Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.2%Bottom 36%June 2026
Unemployment rate2.9%Bottom 3%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202473k64k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $72,523 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Kalispell, MT, the city containing this ZIP code.

45% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 54% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.9 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
22
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
44.7%
Top 36% in Montana
Reading proficiency
53.9%
Top 36% in Montana
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Flathead High SchoolFlathead H S1,54115.9
Glacier High SchoolFlathead H S1,40216.3
Kalispell Middle SchoolKalispell Elem1,04915.452%57%
Edgerton SchoolKalispell Elem50917.660%65%
West Valley SchoolWest Valley Elem43418.154%60%
Jeannette Rankin Elementary ScKalispell Elem41516.637%45%
West Valley Middle SchoolWest Valley Elem37219.647%67%
East Evergreen SchoolEvergreen Elem36013.327%37%
Lillian Peterson SchoolKalispell Elem34417.246%63%
Cornelius Hedges SchoolKalispell Elem32015.247%55%
Evergreen Junior HighEvergreen Elem28514.332%42%
Cayuse Prairie SchoolCayuse Prairie Elem25414.940%52%

89.9% 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 $1,117 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 6.6 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
18.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
6.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,117
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$476,300
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income6.57Top 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate70.0%Bottom 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±66225,661Top 1%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$68$1,117Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$15,341$476,300Top 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.5%Top 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.0%Bottom 23%2024 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
92/ 100
Top 1% of 5,428 published city profiles

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.

75% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 27.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
769
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
27.0
Top 1% nationally
Year over year
+279%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
75.2%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Kalispell, MT, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

3 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 16°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 16.8 inches, including 54.4 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 42, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station KALISPELL GLACIER AP, 8.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND2.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index63.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation16.8"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall54.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low16°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months31991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index42.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing41°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
42
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
63
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

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. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

39 / 100
Physical resilience

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

AvalancheModerate
EarthquakeHigh
WildfireElevated
Inland floodingModerate

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, cold wave, winter weather, ice storm, lightning, heat wave, drought, hail, strong wind, tornado.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. 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.

Flathead County records 4.3 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 25.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 17.6 per 100,000 residents in Flathead County.

Homicide
4.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
25.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
17.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
28.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

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 Flathead 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 59901 rather than 59901 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
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. 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.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 9 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Glacier Park IntlGPI9 mi9,007 ft
Missoula MontanaMSO92 mi9,501 ft
Great Falls IntlGTF150 mi10,502 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.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
68
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

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
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

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.

59901 vs Kalispell

How this ZIP area compares with Kalispell as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

59901
Kalispell
Median household income
$72,523
vs
$63,415
Per capita income
$38,447
vs
$36,679
Population density
135/sq mi
vs
2,208/sq mi
Median home value
$476,300
vs
$428,000
Median gross rent
$1,117
vs
$1,078
Homeownership rate
70.0%
vs
55.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher
33.7%
vs
34.8%
Poverty rate
9.9%
vs
10.0%
Median age
39.5
vs
36.2

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.