Big Sandy vs Fort Benton

A side-by-side comparison of Big Sandy and Fort Benton: population, income, housing, and more.

Big Sandy and Fort Benton are places in Montana. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Fort Benton has the higher population (1,470 vs 844 in Big Sandy). Fort Benton has the higher median household income ($67,171 vs $58,083 in Big Sandy). Fort Benton has the higher median home value ($201,900 vs $129,600 in Big Sandy).

Population, income & housing

	Big Sandy	Fort Benton
Population	844	1,470
Median age	36.1 yrs	43.3 yrs
Median household income	$58,083	$67,171
Median home value	$129,600	$201,900
Median gross rent	$620	$745
Housing units	330	732
Homeownership rate	59.1%	76.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.6%	29.1%
Unemployment rate	10.3%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Big Sandy	Fort Benton
Population	560 → 844 (+50.7%)	1,523 → 1,470 (-3.5%)
Median household income	$40,893 → $58,083 (+42.0%)	$44,318 → $67,171 (+51.6%)
Median home value	$93,800 → $129,600 (+38.2%)	$155,200 → $201,900 (+30.1%)
Median gross rent	$575 → $620 (+7.8%)	$582 → $745 (+28.0%)

Big Sandy

Population

560844

Median household income

$40,893$58,083

Median home value

$93,800$129,600

Median gross rent

$575$620

Fort Benton

Population

1,5231,470

Median household income

$44,318$67,171

Median home value

$155,200$201,900

Median gross rent

$582$745

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Big Sandy	Fort Benton
Under 5	5.9%	12.5%
5 to 17	21.2%	15.4%
18 to 24	5.1%	0.9%
25 to 34	14.7%	9.9%
35 to 44	17.3%	13.1%
45 to 54	8.3%	8.1%
55 to 64	11.7%	9.9%
65 to 74	10.4%	16.3%
75 and over	5.3%	13.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Big Sandy	Fort Benton
White (non-Hispanic)	77.8%	86.7%
Black or African American	0.9%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	6.4%	0.5%
Asian	0.6%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	14.2%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	9.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Big Sandy	Fort Benton
No high school diploma	8.9%	4.1%
High school graduate	51.7%	37.0%
Some college or associate's	22.7%	29.8%
Bachelor's degree	10.7%	19.6%
Graduate or professional degree	5.9%	9.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Big Sandy	Fort Benton
Drove alone	54.4%	69.1%
Carpooled	14.5%	15.2%
Public transit	1.7%	0.0%
Walked	10.0%	10.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	19.4%	2.8%
Other means	0.0%	2.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Big Sandy	Fort Benton
1-unit, detached	73.3%	74.3%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.6%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	16.7%	5.9%
20 or more units	1.5%	2.7%
Mobile home & other	7.9%	12.8%

Poverty & households

	Big Sandy	Fort Benton
Poverty rate	9.1%	3.0%
Average household size	2.96	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	19	16
Median year structure built	1962	1956