Hays vs Lodge Pole

A side-by-side comparison of Hays and Lodge Pole: population, income, housing, and more.

Hays and Lodge Pole are places in Montana. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Hays has the higher population (967 vs 257 in Lodge Pole). Lodge Pole has the higher median home value ($110,000 vs $61,100 in Hays). Since 2019, Hays's population has grown faster (+4.0% vs -16.6%).

Population, income & housing

	Hays	Lodge Pole
Population	967	257
Median age	34.2 yrs	26.8 yrs
Median household income	$57,875	—
Median home value	$61,100	$110,000
Median gross rent	$550	$500
Housing units	305	80
Homeownership rate	49.4%	62.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.5%	13.6%
Unemployment rate	26.0%	30.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hays	Lodge Pole
Population	930 → 967 (+4.0%)	308 → 257 (-16.6%)
Median household income	$31,875 → $57,875 (+81.6%)	—
Median home value	$46,700 → $61,100 (+30.8%)	$58,600 → $110,000 (+87.7%)
Median gross rent	$429 → $550 (+28.2%)	$467 → $500 (+7.1%)

Hays

Population

930967

Median household income

$31,875$57,875

Median home value

$46,700$61,100

Median gross rent

$429$550

Lodge Pole

Population

308257

Median home value

$58,600$110,000

Median gross rent

$467$500

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Hays	Lodge Pole
Under 5	4.2%	10.9%
5 to 17	21.1%	26.5%
18 to 24	12.4%	8.2%
25 to 34	13.0%	16.0%
35 to 44	18.6%	10.1%
45 to 54	7.3%	12.8%
55 to 64	10.3%	5.1%
65 to 74	9.4%	8.2%
75 and over	3.5%	2.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hays	Lodge Pole
White (non-Hispanic)	2.0%	0.0%
Black or African American	3.2%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	89.9%	97.7%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.4%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.6%	2.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hays	Lodge Pole
No high school diploma	16.1%	12.9%
High school graduate	21.6%	35.7%
Some college or associate's	47.8%	37.9%
Bachelor's degree	13.8%	13.6%
Graduate or professional degree	0.7%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hays	Lodge Pole
Drove alone	51.9%	64.9%
Carpooled	23.6%	11.7%
Public transit	0.0%	7.4%
Walked	6.9%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.7%	11.7%
Other means	6.9%	4.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hays	Lodge Pole
1-unit, detached	67.2%	95.0%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	17.7%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	12.5%	5.0%

Poverty & households

	Hays	Lodge Pole
Poverty rate	29.6%	29.2%
Average household size	3.76	3.67
Mean commute (minutes)	16	37
Median year structure built	1980	1986