Kalispell vs Whitefish

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

Kalispell and Whitefish 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 8,422 in Whitefish). Whitefish has the higher median household income ($71,110 vs $61,590 in Kalispell). Whitefish has the higher median home value ($648,200 vs $381,400 in Kalispell).

Population, income & housing

	Kalispell	Whitefish
Population	26,830	8,422
Median age	35.6 yrs	43.4 yrs
Median household income	$61,590	$71,110
Median home value	$381,400	$648,200
Median gross rent	$1,019	$1,313
Housing units	11,650	5,079
Homeownership rate	59.9%	60.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.9%	56.5%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	2.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kalispell	Whitefish
Population	23,241 → 26,830 (+15.4%)	7,714 → 8,422 (+9.2%)
Median household income	$50,294 → $61,590 (+22.5%)	$52,037 → $71,110 (+36.7%)
Median home value	$233,500 → $381,400 (+63.3%)	$364,500 → $648,200 (+77.8%)
Median gross rent	$805 → $1,019 (+26.6%)	$1,014 → $1,313 (+29.5%)

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

Whitefish

Population

7,7148,422

Median household income

$52,037$71,110

Median home value

$364,500$648,200

Median gross rent

$1,014$1,313

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kalispell	Whitefish
Under 5	7.2%	4.1%
5 to 17	16.3%	13.1%
18 to 24	8.6%	4.0%
25 to 34	17.1%	16.3%
35 to 44	12.1%	14.5%
45 to 54	9.9%	12.5%
55 to 64	10.5%	12.0%
65 to 74	9.7%	13.8%
75 and over	8.6%	9.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kalispell	Whitefish
White (non-Hispanic)	88.1%	95.4%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.0%	1.0%
Asian	1.4%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.1%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	5.0%	1.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kalispell	Whitefish
No high school diploma	4.0%	2.2%
High school graduate	26.8%	18.7%
Some college or associate's	36.3%	22.6%
Bachelor's degree	21.7%	41.5%
Graduate or professional degree	11.2%	15.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kalispell	Whitefish
Drove alone	76.5%	66.0%
Carpooled	8.7%	2.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.2%
Walked	2.7%	7.0%
Bicycle	0.8%	2.7%
Worked from home	10.0%	22.0%
Other means	1.2%	0.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kalispell	Whitefish
1-unit, detached	62.0%	59.6%
1-unit, attached	11.5%	9.6%
2 to 4 units	10.9%	10.5%
5 to 19 units	5.1%	14.9%
20 or more units	8.2%	4.0%
Mobile home & other	2.1%	1.3%

Poverty & households

	Kalispell	Whitefish
Poverty rate	10.3%	8.9%
Average household size	2.36	2.02
Mean commute (minutes)	14	17
Median year structure built	1984	1987