Custer County vs Jefferson County

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

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

Jefferson County has the higher population (12,501 vs 11,938 in Custer County). Jefferson County has the higher median household income ($76,576 vs $63,585 in Custer County). Jefferson County has the higher median home value ($408,000 vs $204,200 in Custer County).

Population, income & housing

	Custer County	Jefferson County
Population	11,938	12,501
Median age	42.6 yrs	47.3 yrs
Median household income	$63,585	$76,576
Median home value	$204,200	$408,000
Median gross rent	$918	$886
Housing units	5,770	5,388
Homeownership rate	68.5%	83.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.8%	32.7%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Custer County	Jefferson County
Population	11,729 → 11,938 (+1.8%)	11,917 → 12,501 (+4.9%)
Median household income	$52,965 → $63,585 (+20.1%)	$69,646 → $76,576 (+10.0%)
Median home value	$170,400 → $204,200 (+19.8%)	$282,700 → $408,000 (+44.3%)
Median gross rent	$758 → $918 (+21.1%)	$788 → $886 (+12.4%)

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

Jefferson County

Population

11,91712,501

Median household income

$69,646$76,576

Median home value

$282,700$408,000

Median gross rent

$788$886

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Custer County	Jefferson County
Under 5	5.0%	4.4%
5 to 17	14.9%	15.8%
18 to 24	8.0%	6.3%
25 to 34	11.9%	9.0%
35 to 44	13.3%	11.9%
45 to 54	11.6%	13.1%
55 to 64	14.9%	16.6%
65 to 74	12.2%	15.8%
75 and over	8.2%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Custer County	Jefferson County
White (non-Hispanic)	89.5%	91.3%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.2%	1.2%
Asian	0.4%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.9%	4.2%
Hispanic or Latino	3.3%	2.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Custer County	Jefferson County
No high school diploma	5.3%	6.0%
High school graduate	29.9%	26.2%
Some college or associate's	35.0%	35.1%
Bachelor's degree	22.1%	21.2%
Graduate or professional degree	7.7%	11.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Custer County	Jefferson County
Drove alone	70.3%	72.2%
Carpooled	17.8%	11.7%
Public transit	0.1%	0.2%
Walked	5.1%	3.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	5.8%	11.9%
Other means	1.0%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Custer County	Jefferson County
1-unit, detached	68.9%	83.7%
1-unit, attached	2.4%	2.3%
2 to 4 units	5.5%	2.3%
5 to 19 units	6.5%	1.2%
20 or more units	5.4%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	11.3%	10.2%

Poverty & households

	Custer County	Jefferson County
Poverty rate	11.7%	6.3%
Average household size	2.28	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	14	22
Median year structure built	1963	1989