Carter County vs Garfield County

A side-by-side comparison of Carter County and Garfield County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Carter County has the higher population (1,361 vs 938 in Garfield County). Garfield County has the higher median household income ($61,750 vs $52,171 in Carter County). Garfield County has the higher median home value ($178,300 vs $176,600 in Carter County).

Population, income & housing

	Carter County	Garfield County
Population	1,361	938
Median age	56.7 yrs	43.9 yrs
Median household income	$52,171	$61,750
Median home value	$176,600	$178,300
Median gross rent	$731	$802
Housing units	799	746
Homeownership rate	61.6%	70.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.3%	21.3%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carter County	Garfield County
Population	1,331 → 1,361 (+2.3%)	1,036 → 938 (-9.5%)
Median household income	$48,000 → $52,171 (+8.7%)	$42,000 → $61,750 (+47.0%)
Median home value	$110,900 → $176,600 (+59.2%)	$124,100 → $178,300 (+43.7%)
Median gross rent	$578 → $731 (+26.5%)	$570 → $802 (+40.7%)

Carter County

Population

1,3311,361

Median household income

$48,000$52,171

Median home value

$110,900$176,600

Median gross rent

$578$731

Garfield County

Population

1,036938

Median household income

$42,000$61,750

Median home value

$124,100$178,300

Median gross rent

$570$802

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carter County	Garfield County
Under 5	6.6%	7.8%
5 to 17	10.9%	15.8%
18 to 24	7.5%	5.4%
25 to 34	6.3%	10.7%
35 to 44	8.4%	10.9%
45 to 54	7.8%	9.7%
55 to 64	22.3%	12.2%
65 to 74	20.2%	15.2%
75 and over	9.9%	12.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carter County	Garfield County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.0%	97.8%
Black or African American	0.1%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.7%	0.6%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.8%	0.6%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carter County	Garfield County
No high school diploma	6.7%	3.6%
High school graduate	28.8%	33.2%
Some college or associate's	44.2%	41.9%
Bachelor's degree	16.4%	15.9%
Graduate or professional degree	3.9%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carter County	Garfield County
Drove alone	51.9%	41.3%
Carpooled	7.3%	5.3%
Public transit	1.0%	0.0%
Walked	8.1%	13.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	29.7%	39.5%
Other means	2.1%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carter County	Garfield County
1-unit, detached	71.5%	76.1%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.1%
2 to 4 units	0.6%	4.8%
5 to 19 units	3.1%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	24.8%	18.9%

Poverty & households

	Carter County	Garfield County
Poverty rate	13.8%	12.2%
Average household size	2.23	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	16	18
Median year structure built	1973	1976