East Helena vs Helena Valley Northwest

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

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

Helena Valley Northwest has the higher population (5,070 vs 1,855 in East Helena). Helena Valley Northwest has the higher median household income ($101,278 vs $53,611 in East Helena). Helena Valley Northwest has the higher median home value ($358,600 vs $254,400 in East Helena).

Population, income & housing

	East Helena	Helena Valley Northwest
Population	1,855	5,070
Median age	35.9 yrs	35.8 yrs
Median household income	$53,611	$101,278
Median home value	$254,400	$358,600
Median gross rent	$1,020	$1,640
Housing units	903	1,609
Homeownership rate	63.1%	94.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.9%	36.9%
Unemployment rate	10.2%	2.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	East Helena	Helena Valley Northwest
Population	1,514 → 1,855 (+22.5%)	4,465 → 5,070 (+13.5%)
Median household income	$51,831 → $53,611 (+3.4%)	$82,795 → $101,278 (+22.3%)
Median home value	$168,100 → $254,400 (+51.3%)	$250,100 → $358,600 (+43.4%)
Median gross rent	$814 → $1,020 (+25.3%)	$1,148 → $1,640 (+42.9%)

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 Valley Northwest

Population

4,4655,070

Median household income

$82,795$101,278

Median home value

$250,100$358,600

Median gross rent

$1,148$1,640

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	East Helena	Helena Valley Northwest
Under 5	11.3%	8.0%
5 to 17	9.4%	21.8%
18 to 24	8.8%	3.4%
25 to 34	19.6%	16.0%
35 to 44	10.7%	15.1%
45 to 54	15.6%	10.3%
55 to 64	11.5%	12.9%
65 to 74	10.6%	7.7%
75 and over	2.4%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	East Helena	Helena Valley Northwest
White (non-Hispanic)	87.3%	92.3%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.6%	0.4%
Asian	1.5%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	2.6%
Two or more races	2.2%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	7.5%	1.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	East Helena	Helena Valley Northwest
No high school diploma	10.4%	4.0%
High school graduate	19.1%	31.4%
Some college or associate's	48.6%	27.7%
Bachelor's degree	18.5%	31.2%
Graduate or professional degree	3.4%	5.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	East Helena	Helena Valley Northwest
Drove alone	66.8%	66.2%
Carpooled	9.6%	25.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.1%	0.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.1%	6.2%
Other means	13.4%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	East Helena	Helena Valley Northwest
1-unit, detached	68.5%	95.6%
1-unit, attached	4.9%	0.1%
2 to 4 units	24.6%	1.4%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	2.0%	3.0%

Poverty & households

	East Helena	Helena Valley Northwest
Poverty rate	17.7%	2.5%
Average household size	2.09	3.17
Mean commute (minutes)	20	21
Median year structure built	1967	2003