Plains vs Thompson Falls

A side-by-side comparison of Plains and Thompson Falls: population, income, housing, and more.

Plains and Thompson Falls are places in Montana. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Thompson Falls has the higher population (1,568 vs 1,077 in Plains). Thompson Falls has the higher median household income ($53,203 vs $24,661 in Plains). Plains has the higher median home value ($209,200 vs $182,200 in Thompson Falls).

Population, income & housing

	Plains	Thompson Falls
Population	1,077	1,568
Median age	43.5 yrs	47.2 yrs
Median household income	$24,661	$53,203
Median home value	$209,200	$182,200
Median gross rent	$782	$575
Housing units	699	746
Homeownership rate	50.4%	78.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.0%	19.8%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Plains	Thompson Falls
Population	1,049 → 1,077 (+2.7%)	1,460 → 1,568 (+7.4%)
Median household income	$33,155 → $24,661 (-25.6%)	$33,516 → $53,203 (+58.7%)
Median home value	$136,800 → $209,200 (+52.9%)	$163,900 → $182,200 (+11.2%)
Median gross rent	$663 → $782 (+17.9%)	$725 → $575 (-20.7%)

Plains

Population

1,0491,077

Median household income

$33,155$24,661

Median home value

$136,800$209,200

Median gross rent

$663$782

Thompson Falls

Population

1,4601,568

Median household income

$33,516$53,203

Median home value

$163,900$182,200

Median gross rent

$725$575

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Plains	Thompson Falls
Under 5	1.9%	7.3%
5 to 17	12.1%	15.8%
18 to 24	16.3%	0.6%
25 to 34	9.5%	14.5%
35 to 44	14.6%	11.4%
45 to 54	4.3%	15.1%
55 to 64	14.4%	14.8%
65 to 74	14.6%	12.5%
75 and over	12.4%	8.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Plains	Thompson Falls
White (non-Hispanic)	91.0%	85.4%
Black or African American	1.5%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.0%	0.8%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.3%	7.5%
Hispanic or Latino	0.2%	5.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Plains	Thompson Falls
No high school diploma	10.5%	7.9%
High school graduate	51.4%	44.0%
Some college or associate's	18.1%	28.3%
Bachelor's degree	14.4%	12.9%
Graduate or professional degree	5.6%	6.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Plains	Thompson Falls
Drove alone	60.6%	78.8%
Carpooled	14.0%	11.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	11.0%	3.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	14.4%	6.7%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Plains	Thompson Falls
1-unit, detached	57.7%	67.7%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	13.6%	5.8%
5 to 19 units	2.9%	6.4%
20 or more units	0.0%	1.7%
Mobile home & other	24.6%	17.6%

Poverty & households

	Plains	Thompson Falls
Poverty rate	19.1%	7.7%
Average household size	1.69	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	18	13
Median year structure built	1976	1974