Lincoln County vs Sanders County

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

Lincoln 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.

Lincoln County has the higher population (20,656 vs 12,936 in Sanders County). Sanders County has the higher median household income ($54,035 vs $47,018 in Lincoln County). Sanders County has the higher median home value ($323,800 vs $258,700 in Lincoln County).

Population, income & housing

	Lincoln County	Sanders County
Population	20,656	12,936
Median age	52.6 yrs	54.6 yrs
Median household income	$47,018	$54,035
Median home value	$258,700	$323,800
Median gross rent	$810	$774
Housing units	10,991	6,789
Homeownership rate	79.0%	80.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.0%	21.6%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lincoln County	Sanders County
Population	19,537 → 20,656 (+5.7%)	11,681 → 12,936 (+10.7%)
Median household income	$40,140 → $47,018 (+17.1%)	$40,823 → $54,035 (+32.4%)
Median home value	$198,200 → $258,700 (+30.5%)	$228,200 → $323,800 (+41.9%)
Median gross rent	$734 → $810 (+10.4%)	$627 → $774 (+23.4%)

Lincoln County

Population

19,53720,656

Median household income

$40,140$47,018

Median home value

$198,200$258,700

Median gross rent

$734$810

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)

	Lincoln County	Sanders County
Under 5	4.4%	3.8%
5 to 17	13.6%	13.4%
18 to 24	4.9%	6.1%
25 to 34	8.2%	6.8%
35 to 44	10.3%	9.9%
45 to 54	11.6%	10.5%
55 to 64	17.2%	17.1%
65 to 74	18.5%	20.1%
75 and over	11.2%	12.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lincoln County	Sanders County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.8%	89.0%
Black or African American	0.1%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.3%	2.4%
Asian	0.2%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.2%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.2%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	3.0%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lincoln County	Sanders County
No high school diploma	8.1%	7.8%
High school graduate	39.8%	37.7%
Some college or associate's	34.0%	33.0%
Bachelor's degree	12.6%	15.5%
Graduate or professional degree	5.4%	6.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lincoln County	Sanders County
Drove alone	61.8%	67.8%
Carpooled	15.1%	9.6%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	3.8%	5.1%
Bicycle	1.2%	1.5%
Worked from home	15.6%	14.5%
Other means	2.3%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lincoln County	Sanders County
1-unit, detached	76.5%	80.2%
1-unit, attached	1.9%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	2.4%
5 to 19 units	1.5%	1.3%
20 or more units	0.9%	0.4%
Mobile home & other	14.9%	15.2%

Poverty & households

	Lincoln County	Sanders County
Poverty rate	16.2%	15.1%
Average household size	2.30	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	19	24
Median year structure built	1982	1989