Shelby vs Sunburst

A side-by-side comparison of Shelby and Sunburst: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Shelby has the higher population (3,129 vs 386 in Sunburst). Sunburst has the higher median household income ($80,938 vs $53,357 in Shelby). Shelby has the higher median home value ($206,000 vs $135,600 in Sunburst).

Population, income & housing

	Shelby	Sunburst
Population	3,129	386
Median age	42.0 yrs	29.5 yrs
Median household income	$53,357	$80,938
Median home value	$206,000	$135,600
Median gross rent	$769	$1,042
Housing units	1,407	176
Homeownership rate	64.9%	79.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.4%	27.4%
Unemployment rate	2.2%	7.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Shelby	Sunburst
Population	3,078 → 3,129 (+1.7%)	360 → 386 (+7.2%)
Median household income	$44,740 → $53,357 (+19.3%)	$67,708 → $80,938 (+19.5%)
Median home value	$148,300 → $206,000 (+38.9%)	$105,200 → $135,600 (+28.9%)
Median gross rent	$532 → $769 (+44.5%)	$680 → $1,042 (+53.2%)

Shelby

Population

3,0783,129

Median household income

$44,740$53,357

Median home value

$148,300$206,000

Median gross rent

$532$769

Sunburst

Population

360386

Median household income

$67,708$80,938

Median home value

$105,200$135,600

Median gross rent

$680$1,042

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Shelby	Sunburst
Under 5	4.1%	8.0%
5 to 17	11.2%	20.5%
18 to 24	6.6%	13.7%
25 to 34	16.7%	12.4%
35 to 44	17.6%	12.2%
45 to 54	12.2%	11.4%
55 to 64	14.1%	13.0%
65 to 74	11.3%	4.9%
75 and over	6.3%	3.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Shelby	Sunburst
White (non-Hispanic)	79.2%	93.5%
Black or African American	3.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	7.2%	1.8%
Asian	1.2%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.8%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.6%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	5.1%	1.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Shelby	Sunburst
No high school diploma	12.9%	6.3%
High school graduate	43.5%	19.3%
Some college or associate's	24.1%	47.1%
Bachelor's degree	9.1%	15.7%
Graduate or professional degree	10.4%	11.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Shelby	Sunburst
Drove alone	84.2%	63.5%
Carpooled	7.3%	10.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.4%	10.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.1%	7.9%
Other means	0.0%	7.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Shelby	Sunburst
1-unit, detached	69.1%	85.8%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	5.5%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	15.1%	0.0%
20 or more units	3.4%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	6.8%	14.2%

Poverty & households

	Shelby	Sunburst
Poverty rate	11.3%	8.9%
Average household size	2.18	2.92
Mean commute (minutes)	12	12
Median year structure built	1966	1958