Columbia Falls vs Lakeside

A side-by-side comparison of Columbia Falls and Lakeside: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Columbia Falls has the higher population (5,531 vs 2,730 in Lakeside). Lakeside has the higher median household income ($83,958 vs $65,313 in Columbia Falls). Lakeside has the higher median home value ($589,500 vs $346,700 in Columbia Falls).

Population, income & housing

	Columbia Falls	Lakeside
Population	5,531	2,730
Median age	38.3 yrs	54.5 yrs
Median household income	$65,313	$83,958
Median home value	$346,700	$589,500
Median gross rent	$1,003	—
Housing units	2,364	1,634
Homeownership rate	64.4%	79.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.6%	30.4%
Unemployment rate	6.8%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbia Falls	Lakeside
Population	5,429 → 5,531 (+1.9%)	2,249 → 2,730 (+21.4%)
Median household income	$46,821 → $65,313 (+39.5%)	$66,372 → $83,958 (+26.5%)
Median home value	$195,700 → $346,700 (+77.2%)	$398,000 → $589,500 (+48.1%)
Median gross rent	$705 → $1,003 (+42.3%)	$599 → $1,130 (+88.6%)

Columbia Falls

Population

5,4295,531

Median household income

$46,821$65,313

Median home value

$195,700$346,700

Median gross rent

$705$1,003

Lakeside

Population

2,2492,730

Median household income

$66,372$83,958

Median home value

$398,000$589,500

Median gross rent

$599$1,130

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbia Falls	Lakeside
Under 5	6.6%	5.1%
5 to 17	17.6%	16.0%
18 to 24	9.4%	2.1%
25 to 34	9.0%	7.1%
35 to 44	20.5%	8.9%
45 to 54	12.7%	12.8%
55 to 64	12.5%	20.7%
65 to 74	5.5%	19.6%
75 and over	6.1%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbia Falls	Lakeside
White (non-Hispanic)	92.7%	90.4%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.8%	4.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.8%
Two or more races	1.9%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	4.6%	1.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbia Falls	Lakeside
No high school diploma	9.7%	3.5%
High school graduate	28.2%	22.7%
Some college or associate's	30.5%	43.5%
Bachelor's degree	21.8%	14.8%
Graduate or professional degree	9.8%	15.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbia Falls	Lakeside
Drove alone	76.7%	65.2%
Carpooled	2.0%	0.6%
Public transit	0.0%	1.6%
Walked	2.7%	9.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	17.5%	16.5%
Other means	1.1%	6.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbia Falls	Lakeside
1-unit, detached	66.9%	79.9%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	14.7%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	9.9%	10.8%
20 or more units	1.6%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.8%	5.5%

Poverty & households

	Columbia Falls	Lakeside
Poverty rate	16.1%	12.6%
Average household size	2.53	2.20
Mean commute (minutes)	20	28
Median year structure built	1979	1991