Arlee vs Polson

A side-by-side comparison of Arlee and Polson: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Polson has the higher population (5,334 vs 651 in Arlee). Arlee has the higher median household income ($53,000 vs $51,463 in Polson). Since 2019, Polson's population has grown faster (+8.5% vs +1.6%).

Population, income & housing

	Arlee	Polson
Population	651	5,334
Median age	34.9 yrs	42.9 yrs
Median household income	$53,000	$51,463
Median home value	—	$321,000
Median gross rent	$772	$921
Housing units	278	2,743
Homeownership rate	59.8%	52.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.0%	28.3%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	6.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Arlee	Polson
Population	641 → 651 (+1.6%)	4,918 → 5,334 (+8.5%)
Median household income	$37,031 → $53,000 (+43.1%)	$37,054 → $51,463 (+38.9%)
Median home value	$165,700 → $193,200 (+16.6%)	$187,200 → $321,000 (+71.5%)
Median gross rent	$542 → $772 (+42.4%)	$727 → $921 (+26.7%)

Arlee

Population

641651

Median household income

$37,031$53,000

Median home value

$165,700$193,200

Median gross rent

$542$772

Polson

Population

4,9185,334

Median household income

$37,054$51,463

Median home value

$187,200$321,000

Median gross rent

$727$921

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Arlee	Polson
Under 5	10.4%	6.6%
5 to 17	18.1%	14.4%
18 to 24	6.3%	8.8%
25 to 34	15.4%	11.5%
35 to 44	23.2%	9.5%
45 to 54	5.2%	12.2%
55 to 64	10.4%	14.5%
65 to 74	6.5%	12.9%
75 and over	4.5%	9.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Arlee	Polson
White (non-Hispanic)	44.5%	59.6%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	41.3%	17.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.8%	15.2%
Hispanic or Latino	6.3%	7.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Arlee	Polson
No high school diploma	11.1%	7.7%
High school graduate	19.8%	31.6%
Some college or associate's	40.1%	32.3%
Bachelor's degree	19.6%	16.9%
Graduate or professional degree	9.4%	11.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Arlee	Polson
Drove alone	40.9%	82.9%
Carpooled	15.1%	7.8%
Public transit	3.9%	0.0%
Walked	13.1%	3.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.4%
Worked from home	27.0%	2.5%
Other means	0.0%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Arlee	Polson
1-unit, detached	76.3%	60.0%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	3.7%
2 to 4 units	6.5%	17.8%
5 to 19 units	7.2%	9.7%
20 or more units	0.0%	5.0%
Mobile home & other	10.1%	3.9%

Poverty & households

	Arlee	Polson
Poverty rate	22.6%	20.0%
Average household size	2.65	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	24	19
Median year structure built	1982	1983