Bigfork vs Kalispell

A side-by-side comparison of Bigfork and Kalispell: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Kalispell has the higher population (26,830 vs 5,249 in Bigfork). Bigfork has the higher median household income ($82,648 vs $61,590 in Kalispell). Bigfork has the higher median home value ($614,300 vs $381,400 in Kalispell).

Population, income & housing

	Bigfork	Kalispell
Population	5,249	26,830
Median age	53.7 yrs	35.6 yrs
Median household income	$82,648	$61,590
Median home value	$614,300	$381,400
Median gross rent	$1,103	$1,019
Housing units	3,207	11,650
Homeownership rate	78.6%	59.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	51.0%	32.9%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bigfork	Kalispell
Population	4,668 → 5,249 (+12.4%)	23,241 → 26,830 (+15.4%)
Median household income	$60,076 → $82,648 (+37.6%)	$50,294 → $61,590 (+22.5%)
Median home value	$365,300 → $614,300 (+68.2%)	$233,500 → $381,400 (+63.3%)
Median gross rent	$884 → $1,103 (+24.8%)	$805 → $1,019 (+26.6%)

Bigfork

Population

4,6685,249

Median household income

$60,076$82,648

Median home value

$365,300$614,300

Median gross rent

$884$1,103

Kalispell

Population

23,24126,830

Median household income

$50,294$61,590

Median home value

$233,500$381,400

Median gross rent

$805$1,019

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bigfork	Kalispell
Under 5	2.0%	7.2%
5 to 17	13.4%	16.3%
18 to 24	8.4%	8.6%
25 to 34	8.4%	17.1%
35 to 44	7.9%	12.1%
45 to 54	12.0%	9.9%
55 to 64	17.5%	10.5%
65 to 74	16.4%	9.7%
75 and over	14.0%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bigfork	Kalispell
White (non-Hispanic)	84.1%	88.1%
Black or African American	0.1%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.5%	1.0%
Asian	0.0%	1.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	2.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.6%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	9.3%	5.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bigfork	Kalispell
No high school diploma	2.4%	4.0%
High school graduate	15.1%	26.8%
Some college or associate's	31.5%	36.3%
Bachelor's degree	33.6%	21.7%
Graduate or professional degree	17.4%	11.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bigfork	Kalispell
Drove alone	69.3%	76.5%
Carpooled	6.3%	8.7%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	6.0%	2.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.8%
Worked from home	16.7%	10.0%
Other means	1.6%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bigfork	Kalispell
1-unit, detached	71.5%	62.0%
1-unit, attached	6.4%	11.5%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	10.9%
5 to 19 units	8.3%	5.1%
20 or more units	2.9%	8.2%
Mobile home & other	6.2%	2.1%

Poverty & households

	Bigfork	Kalispell
Poverty rate	6.2%	10.3%
Average household size	2.27	2.36
Mean commute (minutes)	21	14
Median year structure built	1994	1984