Big Horn County vs Lincoln County

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

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

Lincoln County has the higher population (20,656 vs 12,963 in Big Horn County). Big Horn County has the higher median household income ($56,680 vs $47,018 in Lincoln County). Lincoln County has the higher median home value ($258,700 vs $148,200 in Big Horn County).

Population, income & housing

	Big Horn County	Lincoln County
Population	12,963	20,656
Median age	32.3 yrs	52.6 yrs
Median household income	$56,680	$47,018
Median home value	$148,200	$258,700
Median gross rent	$686	$810
Housing units	4,533	10,991
Homeownership rate	68.2%	79.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.9%	18.0%
Unemployment rate	13.7%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Big Horn County	Lincoln County
Population	13,387 → 12,963 (-3.2%)	19,537 → 20,656 (+5.7%)
Median household income	$49,859 → $56,680 (+13.7%)	$40,140 → $47,018 (+17.1%)
Median home value	$126,100 → $148,200 (+17.5%)	$198,200 → $258,700 (+30.5%)
Median gross rent	$586 → $686 (+17.1%)	$734 → $810 (+10.4%)

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

Lincoln County

Population

19,53720,656

Median household income

$40,140$47,018

Median home value

$198,200$258,700

Median gross rent

$734$810

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Big Horn County	Lincoln County
Under 5	7.0%	4.4%
5 to 17	25.4%	13.6%
18 to 24	9.9%	4.9%
25 to 34	11.2%	8.2%
35 to 44	11.3%	10.3%
45 to 54	9.7%	11.6%
55 to 64	11.9%	17.2%
65 to 74	8.8%	18.5%
75 and over	4.9%	11.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Big Horn County	Lincoln County
White (non-Hispanic)	27.0%	90.8%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	65.3%	1.3%
Asian	0.2%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.9%	4.2%
Hispanic or Latino	4.6%	3.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Big Horn County	Lincoln County
No high school diploma	11.5%	8.1%
High school graduate	30.1%	39.8%
Some college or associate's	37.5%	34.0%
Bachelor's degree	12.8%	12.6%
Graduate or professional degree	8.1%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Big Horn County	Lincoln County
Drove alone	68.3%	61.8%
Carpooled	17.0%	15.1%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	3.3%	3.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.2%
Worked from home	10.7%	15.6%
Other means	0.6%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Big Horn County	Lincoln County
1-unit, detached	68.8%	76.5%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	6.7%	4.3%
5 to 19 units	3.3%	1.5%
20 or more units	2.8%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	18.0%	14.9%

Poverty & households

	Big Horn County	Lincoln County
Poverty rate	23.6%	16.2%
Average household size	3.46	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	21	19
Median year structure built	1976	1982