Helena Valley Northwest vs Helena Valley West Central

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

Helena Valley Northwest 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 5,070 in Helena Valley Northwest). Helena Valley Northwest has the higher median household income ($101,278 vs $89,040 in Helena Valley West Central). Helena Valley Northwest has the higher median home value ($358,600 vs $352,800 in Helena Valley West Central).

Population, income & housing

	Helena Valley Northwest	Helena Valley West Central
Population	5,070	8,224
Median age	35.8 yrs	39.4 yrs
Median household income	$101,278	$89,040
Median home value	$358,600	$352,800
Median gross rent	$1,640	$1,225
Housing units	1,609	2,967
Homeownership rate	94.1%	82.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.9%	39.7%
Unemployment rate	2.2%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Helena Valley Northwest	Helena Valley West Central
Population	4,465 → 5,070 (+13.5%)	8,082 → 8,224 (+1.8%)
Median household income	$82,795 → $101,278 (+22.3%)	$72,931 → $89,040 (+22.1%)
Median home value	$250,100 → $358,600 (+43.4%)	$238,500 → $352,800 (+47.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,148 → $1,640 (+42.9%)	$1,007 → $1,225 (+21.6%)

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

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)

	Helena Valley Northwest	Helena Valley West Central
Under 5	8.0%	5.7%
5 to 17	21.8%	19.8%
18 to 24	3.4%	5.9%
25 to 34	16.0%	9.7%
35 to 44	15.1%	15.5%
45 to 54	10.3%	10.8%
55 to 64	12.9%	12.9%
65 to 74	7.7%	13.4%
75 and over	4.8%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Helena Valley Northwest	Helena Valley West Central
White (non-Hispanic)	92.3%	87.8%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.1%
Asian	0.1%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	2.6%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.5%	6.6%
Hispanic or Latino	1.1%	4.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Helena Valley Northwest	Helena Valley West Central
No high school diploma	4.0%	3.7%
High school graduate	31.4%	24.5%
Some college or associate's	27.7%	32.2%
Bachelor's degree	31.2%	25.3%
Graduate or professional degree	5.8%	14.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Helena Valley Northwest	Helena Valley West Central
Drove alone	66.2%	78.8%
Carpooled	25.9%	7.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	0.3%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.2%	10.3%
Other means	1.4%	2.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Helena Valley Northwest	Helena Valley West Central
1-unit, detached	95.6%	81.9%
1-unit, attached	0.1%	1.3%
2 to 4 units	1.4%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.3%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.0%	16.5%

Poverty & households

	Helena Valley Northwest	Helena Valley West Central
Poverty rate	2.5%	4.9%
Average household size	3.17	2.80
Mean commute (minutes)	21	19
Median year structure built	2003	1988