Big Horn County vs Custer County

A side-by-side comparison of Big Horn County and Custer County: population, income, housing, and more.

Big Horn County and Custer County are counties in Montana. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Big Horn County has the higher population (12,963 vs 11,938 in Custer County). Custer County has the higher median household income ($63,585 vs $56,680 in Big Horn County). Custer County has the higher median home value ($204,200 vs $148,200 in Big Horn County).

Population, income & housing

	Big Horn County	Custer County
Population	12,963	11,938
Median age	32.3 yrs	42.6 yrs
Median household income	$56,680	$63,585
Median home value	$148,200	$204,200
Median gross rent	$686	$918
Housing units	4,533	5,770
Homeownership rate	68.2%	68.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.9%	29.8%
Unemployment rate	13.7%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Big Horn County	Custer County
Population	13,387 → 12,963 (-3.2%)	11,729 → 11,938 (+1.8%)
Median household income	$49,859 → $56,680 (+13.7%)	$52,965 → $63,585 (+20.1%)
Median home value	$126,100 → $148,200 (+17.5%)	$170,400 → $204,200 (+19.8%)
Median gross rent	$586 → $686 (+17.1%)	$758 → $918 (+21.1%)

Big Horn County

Population

13,38712,963

Median household income

$49,859$56,680

Median home value

$126,100$148,200

Median gross rent

$586$686

Custer County

Population

11,72911,938

Median household income

$52,965$63,585

Median home value

$170,400$204,200

Median gross rent

$758$918

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Big Horn County	Custer County
Under 5	7.0%	5.0%
5 to 17	25.4%	14.9%
18 to 24	9.9%	8.0%
25 to 34	11.2%	11.9%
35 to 44	11.3%	13.3%
45 to 54	9.7%	11.6%
55 to 64	11.9%	14.9%
65 to 74	8.8%	12.2%
75 and over	4.9%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Big Horn County	Custer County
White (non-Hispanic)	27.0%	89.5%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	65.3%	1.2%
Asian	0.2%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.9%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	4.6%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Big Horn County	Custer County
No high school diploma	11.5%	5.3%
High school graduate	30.1%	29.9%
Some college or associate's	37.5%	35.0%
Bachelor's degree	12.8%	22.1%
Graduate or professional degree	8.1%	7.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Big Horn County	Custer County
Drove alone	68.3%	70.3%
Carpooled	17.0%	17.8%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	3.3%	5.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.7%	5.8%
Other means	0.6%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Big Horn County	Custer County
1-unit, detached	68.8%	68.9%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	2.4%
2 to 4 units	6.7%	5.5%
5 to 19 units	3.3%	6.5%
20 or more units	2.8%	5.4%
Mobile home & other	18.0%	11.3%

Poverty & households

	Big Horn County	Custer County
Poverty rate	23.6%	11.7%
Average household size	3.46	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	21	14
Median year structure built	1976	1963