Hill County vs Lake County

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

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

Lake County has the higher population (32,073 vs 16,260 in Hill County). Lake County has the higher median household income ($61,965 vs $55,313 in Hill County). Lake County has the higher median home value ($369,200 vs $187,600 in Hill County).

Population, income & housing

	Hill County	Lake County
Population	16,260	32,073
Median age	34.0 yrs	43.8 yrs
Median household income	$55,313	$61,965
Median home value	$187,600	$369,200
Median gross rent	$752	$884
Housing units	7,232	16,457
Homeownership rate	66.8%	73.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.6%	30.5%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	6.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hill County	Lake County
Population	16,436 → 16,260 (-1.1%)	30,013 → 32,073 (+6.9%)
Median household income	$49,321 → $55,313 (+12.1%)	$48,829 → $61,965 (+26.9%)
Median home value	$143,600 → $187,600 (+30.6%)	$253,100 → $369,200 (+45.9%)
Median gross rent	$615 → $752 (+22.3%)	$705 → $884 (+25.4%)

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

Lake County

Population

30,01332,073

Median household income

$48,829$61,965

Median home value

$253,100$369,200

Median gross rent

$705$884

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Hill County	Lake County
Under 5	8.6%	5.1%
5 to 17	19.8%	17.5%
18 to 24	10.0%	7.0%
25 to 34	12.0%	10.6%
35 to 44	11.9%	11.2%
45 to 54	9.8%	10.7%
55 to 64	11.9%	14.4%
65 to 74	10.2%	14.3%
75 and over	5.8%	9.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hill County	Lake County
White (non-Hispanic)	67.7%	64.5%
Black or African American	0.2%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	22.7%	20.1%
Asian	0.2%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.9%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.8%	10.2%
Hispanic or Latino	3.4%	4.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hill County	Lake County
No high school diploma	8.8%	7.0%
High school graduate	33.9%	25.9%
Some college or associate's	31.7%	36.6%
Bachelor's degree	18.5%	20.1%
Graduate or professional degree	7.1%	10.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hill County	Lake County
Drove alone	72.9%	71.6%
Carpooled	15.5%	11.8%
Public transit	0.2%	0.2%
Walked	6.0%	3.6%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.6%
Worked from home	4.6%	11.1%
Other means	0.5%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hill County	Lake County
1-unit, detached	72.1%	77.8%
1-unit, attached	3.7%	2.2%
2 to 4 units	5.4%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	3.7%	3.0%
20 or more units	1.6%	1.0%
Mobile home & other	13.6%	10.1%

Poverty & households

	Hill County	Lake County
Poverty rate	19.7%	17.7%
Average household size	2.54	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	14	22
Median year structure built	1972	1986