Hill County vs Jefferson County

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

Hill 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.

Hill County has the higher population (16,260 vs 12,501 in Jefferson County). Jefferson County has the higher median household income ($76,576 vs $55,313 in Hill County). Jefferson County has the higher median home value ($408,000 vs $187,600 in Hill County).

Population, income & housing

	Hill County	Jefferson County
Population	16,260	12,501
Median age	34.0 yrs	47.3 yrs
Median household income	$55,313	$76,576
Median home value	$187,600	$408,000
Median gross rent	$752	$886
Housing units	7,232	5,388
Homeownership rate	66.8%	83.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.6%	32.7%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hill County	Jefferson County
Population	16,436 → 16,260 (-1.1%)	11,917 → 12,501 (+4.9%)
Median household income	$49,321 → $55,313 (+12.1%)	$69,646 → $76,576 (+10.0%)
Median home value	$143,600 → $187,600 (+30.6%)	$282,700 → $408,000 (+44.3%)
Median gross rent	$615 → $752 (+22.3%)	$788 → $886 (+12.4%)

Hill County

Population

16,43616,260

Median household income

$49,321$55,313

Median home value

$143,600$187,600

Median gross rent

$615$752

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)

	Hill County	Jefferson County
Under 5	8.6%	4.4%
5 to 17	19.8%	15.8%
18 to 24	10.0%	6.3%
25 to 34	12.0%	9.0%
35 to 44	11.9%	11.9%
45 to 54	9.8%	13.1%
55 to 64	11.9%	16.6%
65 to 74	10.2%	15.8%
75 and over	5.8%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hill County	Jefferson County
White (non-Hispanic)	67.7%	91.3%
Black or African American	0.2%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	22.7%	1.2%
Asian	0.2%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.8%	4.2%
Hispanic or Latino	3.4%	2.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hill County	Jefferson County
No high school diploma	8.8%	6.0%
High school graduate	33.9%	26.2%
Some college or associate's	31.7%	35.1%
Bachelor's degree	18.5%	21.2%
Graduate or professional degree	7.1%	11.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hill County	Jefferson County
Drove alone	72.9%	72.2%
Carpooled	15.5%	11.7%
Public transit	0.2%	0.2%
Walked	6.0%	3.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.1%
Worked from home	4.6%	11.9%
Other means	0.5%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hill County	Jefferson County
1-unit, detached	72.1%	83.7%
1-unit, attached	3.7%	2.3%
2 to 4 units	5.4%	2.3%
5 to 19 units	3.7%	1.2%
20 or more units	1.6%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	13.6%	10.2%

Poverty & households

	Hill County	Jefferson County
Poverty rate	19.7%	6.3%
Average household size	2.54	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	14	22
Median year structure built	1972	1989