Big Arm vs Swan Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Big Arm and Swan Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Swan Lake has the higher population (226 vs 142 in Big Arm). Since 2019, Swan Lake's population has grown faster (+34.5% vs -16.0%).

Population, income & housing

	Big Arm	Swan Lake
Population	142	226
Median age	31.5 yrs	43.6 yrs
Median household income	—	$78,125
Median home value	—	$492,900
Housing units	82	195
Homeownership rate	100.0%	92.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.2%	30.1%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Big Arm	Swan Lake
Population	169 → 142 (-16.0%)	168 → 226 (+34.5%)
Median household income	—	$65,250 → $78,125 (+19.7%)
Median home value	—	$310,000 → $492,900 (+59.0%)

Big Arm

Population

169142

Swan Lake

Population

168226

Median household income

$65,250$78,125

Median home value

$310,000$492,900

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Big Arm	Swan Lake
Under 5	19.0%	9.7%
5 to 17	12.0%	4.9%
18 to 24	0.0%	0.0%
25 to 34	31.0%	25.2%
35 to 44	25.4%	13.3%
45 to 54	0.0%	4.9%
55 to 64	0.0%	10.6%
65 to 74	7.7%	11.9%
75 and over	4.9%	19.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Big Arm	Swan Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	39.4%	98.2%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	60.6%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	0.9%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Big Arm	Swan Lake
No high school diploma	25.5%	3.1%
High school graduate	17.3%	30.6%
Some college or associate's	45.9%	36.3%
Bachelor's degree	11.2%	27.5%
Graduate or professional degree	0.0%	2.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Big Arm	Swan Lake
Drove alone	100.0%	67.7%
Carpooled	0.0%	5.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.0%	22.9%
Other means	0.0%	4.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Big Arm	Swan Lake
1-unit, detached	53.7%	95.4%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	46.3%	4.6%

Poverty & households

	Big Arm	Swan Lake
Poverty rate	55.6%	16.4%
Average household size	2.90	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	—	32
Median year structure built	1976	1987