East Helena vs Helena Valley Southeast

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

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

Helena Valley Southeast has the higher population (9,533 vs 1,855 in East Helena). Helena Valley Southeast has the higher median household income ($63,824 vs $53,611 in East Helena). Helena Valley Southeast has the higher median home value ($308,000 vs $254,400 in East Helena).

Population, income & housing

	East Helena	Helena Valley Southeast
Population	1,855	9,533
Median age	35.9 yrs	38.2 yrs
Median household income	$53,611	$63,824
Median home value	$254,400	$308,000
Median gross rent	$1,020	$1,231
Housing units	903	3,795
Homeownership rate	63.1%	82.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.9%	21.7%
Unemployment rate	10.2%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	East Helena	Helena Valley Southeast
Population	1,514 → 1,855 (+22.5%)	8,448 → 9,533 (+12.8%)
Median household income	$51,831 → $53,611 (+3.4%)	$54,583 → $63,824 (+16.9%)
Median home value	$168,100 → $254,400 (+51.3%)	$210,400 → $308,000 (+46.4%)
Median gross rent	$814 → $1,020 (+25.3%)	$854 → $1,231 (+44.1%)

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 Southeast

Population

8,4489,533

Median household income

$54,583$63,824

Median home value

$210,400$308,000

Median gross rent

$854$1,231

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	East Helena	Helena Valley Southeast
Under 5	11.3%	5.8%
5 to 17	9.4%	22.4%
18 to 24	8.8%	5.9%
25 to 34	19.6%	11.0%
35 to 44	10.7%	16.4%
45 to 54	15.6%	9.9%
55 to 64	11.5%	13.4%
65 to 74	10.6%	12.3%
75 and over	2.4%	3.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	East Helena	Helena Valley Southeast
White (non-Hispanic)	87.3%	93.2%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.6%	0.2%
Asian	1.5%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.2%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	7.5%	2.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	East Helena	Helena Valley Southeast
No high school diploma	10.4%	9.7%
High school graduate	19.1%	36.3%
Some college or associate's	48.6%	32.3%
Bachelor's degree	18.5%	14.5%
Graduate or professional degree	3.4%	7.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	East Helena	Helena Valley Southeast
Drove alone	66.8%	75.3%
Carpooled	9.6%	14.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.1%	0.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.1%	8.9%
Other means	13.4%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	East Helena	Helena Valley Southeast
1-unit, detached	68.5%	57.8%
1-unit, attached	4.9%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	24.6%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	2.0%	37.8%

Poverty & households

	East Helena	Helena Valley Southeast
Poverty rate	17.7%	13.9%
Average household size	2.09	2.59
Mean commute (minutes)	20	19
Median year structure built	1967	1987