Helena vs Helena Valley West Central

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

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 has the higher population (33,126 vs 8,224 in Helena Valley West Central). Helena Valley West Central has the higher median household income ($89,040 vs $69,341 in Helena). Helena has the higher median home value ($355,100 vs $352,800 in Helena Valley West Central).

Population, income & housing

	Helena	Helena Valley West Central
Population	33,126	8,224
Median age	40.4 yrs	39.4 yrs
Median household income	$69,341	$89,040
Median home value	$355,100	$352,800
Median gross rent	$1,058	$1,225
Housing units	16,574	2,967
Homeownership rate	53.8%	82.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	50.4%	39.7%
Unemployment rate	3.1%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Helena	Helena Valley West Central
Population	32,024 → 33,126 (+3.4%)	8,082 → 8,224 (+1.8%)
Median household income	$61,324 → $69,341 (+13.1%)	$72,931 → $89,040 (+22.1%)
Median home value	$244,300 → $355,100 (+45.4%)	$238,500 → $352,800 (+47.9%)
Median gross rent	$820 → $1,058 (+29.0%)	$1,007 → $1,225 (+21.6%)

Helena

Population

32,02433,126

Median household income

$61,324$69,341

Median home value

$244,300$355,100

Median gross rent

$820$1,058

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	Helena Valley West Central
Under 5	4.6%	5.7%
5 to 17	14.3%	19.8%
18 to 24	10.0%	5.9%
25 to 34	14.1%	9.7%
35 to 44	12.5%	15.5%
45 to 54	10.7%	10.8%
55 to 64	12.6%	12.9%
65 to 74	11.9%	13.4%
75 and over	9.3%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Helena	Helena Valley West Central
White (non-Hispanic)	87.2%	87.8%
Black or African American	0.8%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.9%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	5.1%	6.6%
Hispanic or Latino	4.8%	4.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Helena	Helena Valley West Central
No high school diploma	3.9%	3.7%
High school graduate	19.4%	24.5%
Some college or associate's	26.3%	32.2%
Bachelor's degree	31.7%	25.3%
Graduate or professional degree	18.7%	14.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Helena	Helena Valley West Central
Drove alone	65.4%	78.8%
Carpooled	8.5%	7.8%
Public transit	0.3%	0.1%
Walked	8.3%	0.9%
Bicycle	1.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	15.0%	10.3%
Other means	1.0%	2.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Helena	Helena Valley West Central
1-unit, detached	52.4%	81.9%
1-unit, attached	6.1%	1.3%
2 to 4 units	20.8%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	8.8%	0.3%
20 or more units	8.4%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.5%	16.5%

Poverty & households

	Helena	Helena Valley West Central
Poverty rate	9.1%	4.9%
Average household size	2.05	2.80
Mean commute (minutes)	14	19
Median year structure built	1975	1988