Helena Valley West Central vs Helena West Side

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

Helena Valley West Central and Helena West Side 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 1,584 in Helena West Side). Helena Valley West Central has the higher median household income ($89,040 vs $67,692 in Helena West Side). Helena West Side has the higher median home value ($411,800 vs $352,800 in Helena Valley West Central).

Population, income & housing

	Helena Valley West Central	Helena West Side
Population	8,224	1,584
Median age	39.4 yrs	35.2 yrs
Median household income	$89,040	$67,692
Median home value	$352,800	$411,800
Median gross rent	$1,225	$781
Housing units	2,967	633
Homeownership rate	82.2%	83.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	39.7%	48.3%
Unemployment rate	4.6%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Helena Valley West Central	Helena West Side
Population	8,082 → 8,224 (+1.8%)	1,039 → 1,584 (+52.5%)
Median household income	$72,931 → $89,040 (+22.1%)	$58,333 → $67,692 (+16.0%)
Median home value	$238,500 → $352,800 (+47.9%)	$208,700 → $411,800 (+97.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,007 → $1,225 (+21.6%)	$1,090 → $781 (-28.3%)

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

Helena West Side

Population

1,0391,584

Median household income

$58,333$67,692

Median home value

$208,700$411,800

Median gross rent

$1,090$781

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Helena Valley West Central	Helena West Side
Under 5	5.7%	14.5%
5 to 17	19.8%	12.9%
18 to 24	5.9%	8.3%
25 to 34	9.7%	13.7%
35 to 44	15.5%	8.1%
45 to 54	10.8%	18.9%
55 to 64	12.9%	14.6%
65 to 74	13.4%	7.1%
75 and over	6.2%	1.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Helena Valley West Central	Helena West Side
White (non-Hispanic)	87.8%	86.4%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	8.5%
Asian	0.2%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.6%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	4.7%	0.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Helena Valley West Central	Helena West Side
No high school diploma	3.7%	9.9%
High school graduate	24.5%	13.1%
Some college or associate's	32.2%	28.7%
Bachelor's degree	25.3%	31.7%
Graduate or professional degree	14.5%	16.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Helena Valley West Central	Helena West Side
Drove alone	78.8%	71.4%
Carpooled	7.8%	10.6%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	0.9%	5.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	8.5%
Worked from home	10.3%	3.8%
Other means	2.1%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Helena Valley West Central	Helena West Side
1-unit, detached	81.9%	67.6%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	1.9%
5 to 19 units	0.3%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	16.5%	30.5%

Poverty & households

	Helena Valley West Central	Helena West Side
Poverty rate	4.9%	4.0%
Average household size	2.80	2.57
Mean commute (minutes)	19	22
Median year structure built	1988	1977