Flathead County vs Yellowstone County

A side-by-side comparison of Flathead County and Yellowstone County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Yellowstone County has the higher population (167,340 vs 108,445 in Flathead County). Yellowstone County has the higher median household income ($74,400 vs $71,327 in Flathead County). Flathead County has the higher median home value ($467,700 vs $317,600 in Yellowstone County).

Population, income & housing

	Flathead County	Yellowstone County
Population	108,445	167,340
Median age	42.1 yrs	38.7 yrs
Median household income	$71,327	$74,400
Median home value	$467,700	$317,600
Median gross rent	$1,094	$1,084
Housing units	50,948	73,363
Homeownership rate	74.0%	69.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.0%	33.9%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Flathead County	Yellowstone County
Population	99,899 → 108,445 (+8.6%)	159,008 → 167,340 (+5.2%)
Median household income	$56,182 → $71,327 (+27.0%)	$61,264 → $74,400 (+21.4%)
Median home value	$273,600 → $467,700 (+70.9%)	$226,000 → $317,600 (+40.5%)
Median gross rent	$855 → $1,094 (+28.0%)	$892 → $1,084 (+21.5%)

Flathead County

Population

99,899108,445

Median household income

$56,182$71,327

Median home value

$273,600$467,700

Median gross rent

$855$1,094

Yellowstone County

Population

159,008167,340

Median household income

$61,264$74,400

Median home value

$226,000$317,600

Median gross rent

$892$1,084

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Flathead County	Yellowstone County
Under 5	5.4%	5.7%
5 to 17	16.4%	17.5%
18 to 24	6.6%	7.9%
25 to 34	12.0%	13.8%
35 to 44	13.1%	13.4%
45 to 54	11.8%	11.3%
55 to 64	13.9%	12.5%
65 to 74	13.3%	10.6%
75 and over	7.5%	7.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Flathead County	Yellowstone County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.7%	83.9%
Black or African American	0.2%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.9%	3.8%
Asian	0.9%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.5%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	3.5%	6.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Flathead County	Yellowstone County
No high school diploma	4.4%	4.7%
High school graduate	27.4%	29.6%
Some college or associate's	32.2%	31.7%
Bachelor's degree	24.2%	23.3%
Graduate or professional degree	11.8%	10.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Flathead County	Yellowstone County
Drove alone	73.8%	77.9%
Carpooled	6.5%	9.7%
Public transit	0.1%	0.9%
Walked	2.9%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.5%
Worked from home	14.7%	8.0%
Other means	1.5%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Flathead County	Yellowstone County
1-unit, detached	72.6%	65.5%
1-unit, attached	5.0%	5.7%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	7.5%
5 to 19 units	4.7%	5.9%
20 or more units	3.1%	5.2%
Mobile home & other	8.9%	10.0%

Poverty & households

	Flathead County	Yellowstone County
Poverty rate	9.6%	10.2%
Average household size	2.46	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	19	19
Median year structure built	1989	1982