Custer County vs Sanders County

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

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

Sanders County has the higher population (12,936 vs 11,938 in Custer County). Custer County has the higher median household income ($63,585 vs $54,035 in Sanders County). Sanders County has the higher median home value ($323,800 vs $204,200 in Custer County).

Population, income & housing

	Custer County	Sanders County
Population	11,938	12,936
Median age	42.6 yrs	54.6 yrs
Median household income	$63,585	$54,035
Median home value	$204,200	$323,800
Median gross rent	$918	$774
Housing units	5,770	6,789
Homeownership rate	68.5%	80.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.8%	21.6%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Custer County	Sanders County
Population	11,729 → 11,938 (+1.8%)	11,681 → 12,936 (+10.7%)
Median household income	$52,965 → $63,585 (+20.1%)	$40,823 → $54,035 (+32.4%)
Median home value	$170,400 → $204,200 (+19.8%)	$228,200 → $323,800 (+41.9%)
Median gross rent	$758 → $918 (+21.1%)	$627 → $774 (+23.4%)

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

Sanders County

Population

11,68112,936

Median household income

$40,823$54,035

Median home value

$228,200$323,800

Median gross rent

$627$774

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Custer County	Sanders County
Under 5	5.0%	3.8%
5 to 17	14.9%	13.4%
18 to 24	8.0%	6.1%
25 to 34	11.9%	6.8%
35 to 44	13.3%	9.9%
45 to 54	11.6%	10.5%
55 to 64	14.9%	17.1%
65 to 74	12.2%	20.1%
75 and over	8.2%	12.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Custer County	Sanders County
White (non-Hispanic)	89.5%	89.0%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.2%	2.4%
Asian	0.4%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.2%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.9%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	3.3%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Custer County	Sanders County
No high school diploma	5.3%	7.8%
High school graduate	29.9%	37.7%
Some college or associate's	35.0%	33.0%
Bachelor's degree	22.1%	15.5%
Graduate or professional degree	7.7%	6.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Custer County	Sanders County
Drove alone	70.3%	67.8%
Carpooled	17.8%	9.6%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	5.1%	5.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.5%
Worked from home	5.8%	14.5%
Other means	1.0%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Custer County	Sanders County
1-unit, detached	68.9%	80.2%
1-unit, attached	2.4%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	5.5%	2.4%
5 to 19 units	6.5%	1.3%
20 or more units	5.4%	0.4%
Mobile home & other	11.3%	15.2%

Poverty & households

	Custer County	Sanders County
Poverty rate	11.7%	15.1%
Average household size	2.28	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	14	24
Median year structure built	1963	1989