East Helena vs Helena Valley West Central

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

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

Helena Valley West Central has the higher population (8,224 vs 1,855 in East Helena). Helena Valley West Central has the higher median household income ($89,040 vs $53,611 in East Helena). Helena Valley West Central has the higher median home value ($352,800 vs $254,400 in East Helena).

Population, income & housing

	East Helena	Helena Valley West Central
Population	1,855	8,224
Median age	35.9 yrs	39.4 yrs
Median household income	$53,611	$89,040
Median home value	$254,400	$352,800
Median gross rent	$1,020	$1,225
Housing units	903	2,967
Homeownership rate	63.1%	82.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.9%	39.7%
Unemployment rate	10.2%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	East Helena	Helena Valley West Central
Population	1,514 → 1,855 (+22.5%)	8,082 → 8,224 (+1.8%)
Median household income	$51,831 → $53,611 (+3.4%)	$72,931 → $89,040 (+22.1%)
Median home value	$168,100 → $254,400 (+51.3%)	$238,500 → $352,800 (+47.9%)
Median gross rent	$814 → $1,020 (+25.3%)	$1,007 → $1,225 (+21.6%)

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 West Central

Population

8,0828,224

Median household income

$72,931$89,040

Median home value

$238,500$352,800

Median gross rent

$1,007$1,225

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	East Helena	Helena Valley West Central
Under 5	11.3%	5.7%
5 to 17	9.4%	19.8%
18 to 24	8.8%	5.9%
25 to 34	19.6%	9.7%
35 to 44	10.7%	15.5%
45 to 54	15.6%	10.8%
55 to 64	11.5%	12.9%
65 to 74	10.6%	13.4%
75 and over	2.4%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	East Helena	Helena Valley West Central
White (non-Hispanic)	87.3%	87.8%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.6%	0.1%
Asian	1.5%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.2%	6.6%
Hispanic or Latino	7.5%	4.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	East Helena	Helena Valley West Central
No high school diploma	10.4%	3.7%
High school graduate	19.1%	24.5%
Some college or associate's	48.6%	32.2%
Bachelor's degree	18.5%	25.3%
Graduate or professional degree	3.4%	14.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	East Helena	Helena Valley West Central
Drove alone	66.8%	78.8%
Carpooled	9.6%	7.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	1.1%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.1%	10.3%
Other means	13.4%	2.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	East Helena	Helena Valley West Central
1-unit, detached	68.5%	81.9%
1-unit, attached	4.9%	1.3%
2 to 4 units	24.6%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.3%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	2.0%	16.5%

Poverty & households

	East Helena	Helena Valley West Central
Poverty rate	17.7%	4.9%
Average household size	2.09	2.80
Mean commute (minutes)	20	19
Median year structure built	1967	1988