Cascade County vs Missoula County

A side-by-side comparison of Cascade County and Missoula County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Missoula County has the higher population (119,639 vs 84,601 in Cascade County). Missoula County has the higher median household income ($71,246 vs $66,203 in Cascade County). Missoula County has the higher median home value ($423,100 vs $243,300 in Cascade County).

Population, income & housing

	Cascade County	Missoula County
Population	84,601	119,639
Median age	38.3 yrs	37.0 yrs
Median household income	$66,203	$71,246
Median home value	$243,300	$423,100
Median gross rent	$902	$1,125
Housing units	39,248	56,008
Homeownership rate	70.2%	59.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.7%	45.9%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cascade County	Missoula County
Population	81,625 → 84,601 (+3.6%)	117,309 → 119,639 (+2.0%)
Median household income	$49,913 → $66,203 (+32.6%)	$54,062 → $71,246 (+31.8%)
Median home value	$179,900 → $243,300 (+35.2%)	$284,000 → $423,100 (+49.0%)
Median gross rent	$770 → $902 (+17.1%)	$863 → $1,125 (+30.4%)

Cascade County

Population

81,62584,601

Median household income

$49,913$66,203

Median home value

$179,900$243,300

Median gross rent

$770$902

Missoula County

Population

117,309119,639

Median household income

$54,062$71,246

Median home value

$284,000$423,100

Median gross rent

$863$1,125

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cascade County	Missoula County
Under 5	5.9%	4.6%
5 to 17	16.5%	13.8%
18 to 24	8.9%	12.8%
25 to 34	14.1%	15.9%
35 to 44	12.2%	14.1%
45 to 54	10.3%	10.8%
55 to 64	12.8%	11.4%
65 to 74	11.2%	10.4%
75 and over	8.1%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cascade County	Missoula County
White (non-Hispanic)	83.2%	85.8%
Black or African American	1.4%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	3.4%	1.9%
Asian	1.1%	1.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	5.3%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	5.1%	4.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cascade County	Missoula County
No high school diploma	6.1%	3.4%
High school graduate	31.5%	20.5%
Some college or associate's	33.6%	30.2%
Bachelor's degree	18.3%	28.5%
Graduate or professional degree	10.5%	17.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cascade County	Missoula County
Drove alone	77.9%	70.2%
Carpooled	10.3%	8.0%
Public transit	0.7%	1.5%
Walked	2.3%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.7%	3.2%
Worked from home	7.0%	13.0%
Other means	1.1%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cascade County	Missoula County
1-unit, detached	67.4%	58.3%
1-unit, attached	5.4%	4.8%
2 to 4 units	7.0%	9.6%
5 to 19 units	6.7%	9.7%
20 or more units	6.3%	8.7%
Mobile home & other	7.2%	8.9%

Poverty & households

	Cascade County	Missoula County
Poverty rate	13.2%	10.9%
Average household size	2.34	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	17	19
Median year structure built	1969	1984