East Helena vs Helena

A side-by-side comparison of East Helena and Helena: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Helena has the higher population (33,126 vs 1,855 in East Helena). Helena has the higher median household income ($69,341 vs $53,611 in East Helena). Helena has the higher median home value ($355,100 vs $254,400 in East Helena).

Population, income & housing

	East Helena	Helena
Population	1,855	33,126
Median age	35.9 yrs	40.4 yrs
Median household income	$53,611	$69,341
Median home value	$254,400	$355,100
Median gross rent	$1,020	$1,058
Housing units	903	16,574
Homeownership rate	63.1%	53.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.9%	50.4%
Unemployment rate	10.2%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	East Helena	Helena
Population	1,514 → 1,855 (+22.5%)	32,024 → 33,126 (+3.4%)
Median household income	$51,831 → $53,611 (+3.4%)	$61,324 → $69,341 (+13.1%)
Median home value	$168,100 → $254,400 (+51.3%)	$244,300 → $355,100 (+45.4%)
Median gross rent	$814 → $1,020 (+25.3%)	$820 → $1,058 (+29.0%)

East Helena

Population

1,5141,855

Median household income

$51,831$53,611

Median home value

$168,100$254,400

Median gross rent

$814$1,020

Helena

Population

32,02433,126

Median household income

$61,324$69,341

Median home value

$244,300$355,100

Median gross rent

$820$1,058

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	East Helena	Helena
Under 5	11.3%	4.6%
5 to 17	9.4%	14.3%
18 to 24	8.8%	10.0%
25 to 34	19.6%	14.1%
35 to 44	10.7%	12.5%
45 to 54	15.6%	10.7%
55 to 64	11.5%	12.6%
65 to 74	10.6%	11.9%
75 and over	2.4%	9.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	East Helena	Helena
White (non-Hispanic)	87.3%	87.2%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.6%	1.1%
Asian	1.5%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.2%	5.1%
Hispanic or Latino	7.5%	4.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	East Helena	Helena
No high school diploma	10.4%	3.9%
High school graduate	19.1%	19.4%
Some college or associate's	48.6%	26.3%
Bachelor's degree	18.5%	31.7%
Graduate or professional degree	3.4%	18.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	East Helena	Helena
Drove alone	66.8%	65.4%
Carpooled	9.6%	8.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	1.1%	8.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.3%
Worked from home	9.1%	15.0%
Other means	13.4%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	East Helena	Helena
1-unit, detached	68.5%	52.4%
1-unit, attached	4.9%	6.1%
2 to 4 units	24.6%	20.8%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	8.8%
20 or more units	0.0%	8.4%
Mobile home & other	2.0%	3.5%

Poverty & households

	East Helena	Helena
Poverty rate	17.7%	9.1%
Average household size	2.09	2.05
Mean commute (minutes)	20	14
Median year structure built	1967	1975