Lake County vs Ravalli County

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

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

Ravalli County has the higher population (45,807 vs 32,073 in Lake County). Ravalli County has the higher median household income ($71,323 vs $61,965 in Lake County). Ravalli County has the higher median home value ($435,000 vs $369,200 in Lake County).

Population, income & housing

	Lake County	Ravalli County
Population	32,073	45,807
Median age	43.8 yrs	48.9 yrs
Median household income	$61,965	$71,323
Median home value	$369,200	$435,000
Median gross rent	$884	$1,054
Housing units	16,457	21,098
Homeownership rate	73.8%	78.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.5%	29.8%
Unemployment rate	6.4%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lake County	Ravalli County
Population	30,013 → 32,073 (+6.9%)	42,512 → 45,807 (+7.8%)
Median household income	$48,829 → $61,965 (+26.9%)	$53,054 → $71,323 (+34.4%)
Median home value	$253,100 → $369,200 (+45.9%)	$279,300 → $435,000 (+55.7%)
Median gross rent	$705 → $884 (+25.4%)	$770 → $1,054 (+36.9%)

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

Ravalli County

Population

42,51245,807

Median household income

$53,054$71,323

Median home value

$279,300$435,000

Median gross rent

$770$1,054

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lake County	Ravalli County
Under 5	5.1%	4.3%
5 to 17	17.5%	14.5%
18 to 24	7.0%	5.8%
25 to 34	10.6%	9.5%
35 to 44	11.2%	11.7%
45 to 54	10.7%	11.3%
55 to 64	14.4%	16.4%
65 to 74	14.3%	16.5%
75 and over	9.3%	9.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lake County	Ravalli County
White (non-Hispanic)	64.5%	89.2%
Black or African American	0.2%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	20.1%	0.5%
Asian	0.5%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.5%
Two or more races	10.2%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.2%	4.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lake County	Ravalli County
No high school diploma	7.0%	6.7%
High school graduate	25.9%	30.4%
Some college or associate's	36.6%	33.1%
Bachelor's degree	20.1%	18.8%
Graduate or professional degree	10.4%	10.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lake County	Ravalli County
Drove alone	71.6%	72.0%
Carpooled	11.8%	10.5%
Public transit	0.2%	0.1%
Walked	3.6%	2.5%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.9%
Worked from home	11.1%	12.5%
Other means	1.1%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lake County	Ravalli County
1-unit, detached	77.8%	79.9%
1-unit, attached	2.2%	2.9%
2 to 4 units	5.9%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	3.0%	2.2%
20 or more units	1.0%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	10.1%	8.3%

Poverty & households

	Lake County	Ravalli County
Poverty rate	17.7%	8.3%
Average household size	2.60	2.42
Mean commute (minutes)	22	25
Median year structure built	1986	1990