Polson vs Woods Bay

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

Polson and Woods Bay 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 696 in Woods Bay). Woods Bay has the higher median household income ($95,781 vs $51,463 in Polson). Woods Bay has the higher median home value ($395,700 vs $321,000 in Polson).

Population, income & housing

	Polson	Woods Bay
Population	5,334	696
Median age	42.9 yrs	57.3 yrs
Median household income	$51,463	$95,781
Median home value	$321,000	$395,700
Median gross rent	$921	—
Housing units	2,743	477
Homeownership rate	52.6%	93.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.3%	55.3%
Unemployment rate	6.9%	0.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Polson	Woods Bay
Population	4,918 → 5,334 (+8.5%)	810 → 696 (-14.1%)
Median household income	$37,054 → $51,463 (+38.9%)	$80,625 → $95,781 (+18.8%)
Median home value	$187,200 → $321,000 (+71.5%)	$258,600 → $395,700 (+53.0%)
Median gross rent	$727 → $921 (+26.7%)	$1,115 → $1,167 (+4.7%)

Polson

Population

4,9185,334

Median household income

$37,054$51,463

Median home value

$187,200$321,000

Median gross rent

$727$921

Woods Bay

Population

810696

Median household income

$80,625$95,781

Median home value

$258,600$395,700

Median gross rent

$1,115$1,167

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Polson	Woods Bay
Under 5	6.6%	4.7%
5 to 17	14.4%	3.3%
18 to 24	8.8%	1.7%
25 to 34	11.5%	21.8%
35 to 44	9.5%	11.8%
45 to 54	12.2%	3.0%
55 to 64	14.5%	25.3%
65 to 74	12.9%	14.8%
75 and over	9.7%	13.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Polson	Woods Bay
White (non-Hispanic)	59.6%	87.8%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	17.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	15.2%	7.2%
Hispanic or Latino	7.3%	5.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Polson	Woods Bay
No high school diploma	7.7%	0.0%
High school graduate	31.6%	17.2%
Some college or associate's	32.3%	27.5%
Bachelor's degree	16.9%	37.9%
Graduate or professional degree	11.5%	17.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Polson	Woods Bay
Drove alone	82.9%	74.7%
Carpooled	7.8%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.9%	4.0%
Bicycle	1.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.5%	20.1%
Other means	1.5%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Polson	Woods Bay
1-unit, detached	60.0%	88.7%
1-unit, attached	3.7%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	17.8%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	9.7%	0.0%
20 or more units	5.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.9%	11.3%

Poverty & households

	Polson	Woods Bay
Poverty rate	20.0%	3.4%
Average household size	2.29	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	19	25
Median year structure built	1983	1995