East Helena vs Lincoln

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

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

East Helena has the higher population (1,855 vs 868 in Lincoln). East Helena has the higher median household income ($53,611 vs $45,912 in Lincoln). Lincoln has the higher median home value ($286,200 vs $254,400 in East Helena).

Population, income & housing

	East Helena	Lincoln
Population	1,855	868
Median age	35.9 yrs	56.8 yrs
Median household income	$53,611	$45,912
Median home value	$254,400	$286,200
Median gross rent	$1,020	$764
Housing units	903	719
Homeownership rate	63.1%	85.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.9%	27.7%
Unemployment rate	10.2%	1.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	East Helena	Lincoln
Population	1,514 → 1,855 (+22.5%)	857 → 868 (+1.3%)
Median household income	$51,831 → $53,611 (+3.4%)	$32,538 → $45,912 (+41.1%)
Median home value	$168,100 → $254,400 (+51.3%)	$164,400 → $286,200 (+74.1%)
Median gross rent	$814 → $1,020 (+25.3%)	$664 → $764 (+15.1%)

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

Lincoln

Population

857868

Median household income

$32,538$45,912

Median home value

$164,400$286,200

Median gross rent

$664$764

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	East Helena	Lincoln
Under 5	11.3%	1.8%
5 to 17	9.4%	4.7%
18 to 24	8.8%	6.2%
25 to 34	19.6%	12.2%
35 to 44	10.7%	7.5%
45 to 54	15.6%	9.8%
55 to 64	11.5%	27.6%
65 to 74	10.6%	17.1%
75 and over	2.4%	13.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	East Helena	Lincoln
White (non-Hispanic)	87.3%	94.5%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.6%	0.0%
Asian	1.5%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.2%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	7.5%	3.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	East Helena	Lincoln
No high school diploma	10.4%	5.4%
High school graduate	19.1%	27.7%
Some college or associate's	48.6%	39.1%
Bachelor's degree	18.5%	24.7%
Graduate or professional degree	3.4%	3.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	East Helena	Lincoln
Drove alone	66.8%	60.0%
Carpooled	9.6%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.9%
Walked	1.1%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.1%	37.4%
Other means	13.4%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	East Helena	Lincoln
1-unit, detached	68.5%	77.9%
1-unit, attached	4.9%	5.0%
2 to 4 units	24.6%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	2.0%	17.1%

Poverty & households

	East Helena	Lincoln
Poverty rate	17.7%	4.6%
Average household size	2.09	1.91
Mean commute (minutes)	20	11
Median year structure built	1967	1976