When it comes to the great outdoors, only a few places are better than the 10 best places to retire in Montana! The state’s nicknames – Big Sky Country, The Treasure State, and The Last Best Place, say a lot!!
The economy of Montana still relies heavily on agriculture and livestock. Oil has been gaining ground as a significant contributor to the state’s treasury, and the discovery of oil in many parts of the state has turned many of the landowners into overnight millionaires. Not surprisingly, tourism has seen a slight boom in recent years, and today is the fastest-growing industry in the state. With such well-known and beautiful parks like Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park, the potential for tourism to be the biggest industry in Montana is there.
One reason why nature lovers and adventurers would be thrilled with living in one of the 10 best places in Montana is it has numerous mountain ranges. In fact, the state’s name originated from the Spanish word Montana, meaning “mountain”. The western portion of the states has most of the state’s 77 named ranges, and many of these are part of the Rocky Mountains. One of the more famous of these ranges is the Bitterroot Mountains. These mountains are one of the longest ranges of the Rocky Mountains and divide Montana from its neighbor Idaho.
Because of the topography of the state, it has produced some of the most stunning landscapes that many of us have seen only on postcards. Glacier National Park, located on the US-Canadian border, has been termed as the “Crown of the Continent Ecosystem” because of its preserved and pristine ecosystem. Designated as a World Heritage Site in 1995, the park has some of the most dramatic and breathtaking scenes one can imagine. In addition to the Glacier National Park, parts of a more famous national park are found within Montana – the Yellowstone National Park. Primarily located in Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park offers its visitors various flora and fauna and offers different landscapes from geysers, lakes and spring to meadows, mountains, and waterfalls.
If you’d like to retire in a more southerly location, check out the 10 best places to retire in Missouri!
To find the 10 best places to retire in Montana, we used several factors, which are important to elderly people, who are looking ideal places for their golden years. Those factors are – the number of doctors per capita, the costs of living, house values, and crime rates. We found data for these factors on Sperling’s Best Places, Areavibes, and Livability and all the counties were ranked in each category separately assigning a corresponding score. Then, we summed up the scores and got our list of 10 best counties for spending your retirement in Montana!
What are you waiting for? Read through the list of these 10 best places to retire in Montana! Adventure is out there!
10. Custer County
Cost of living: 11.2% lower than national average
Crime score: 37
Physicians per 100k: 162
Median House Value: $103,800
Insider Monkey Score: 33
Named after George Custer, Custer County has 11,699 residents. Its county seat is at Miles City. Cattle ranching and farming have been the county’s main source of income, but there are a lot of points of interest near Miles City that could potentially be developed as tourist spots such as Woodruff Park and Spotted Eagle Recreation Park.
9. Jefferson County
Cost of living: 12.8% higher than national average
Crime score: 19
Physicians per 100k: 193
Median House Value: $230,100
Insider Monkey Score: 36
Bookworms would love to live in Jefferson County. Its county seat, Boulder City, is home to an extensive library network, in the county. With over 39,000 books, the Boulder City Library serves over 10,000 residents in Jefferson County.
Photographee.eu/Shutterstock.com
8. Dawson County
Cost of living: 8.5% lower than national average
Crime score: 28
Physicians per 100k: 145
Median House Value: $115,700
Insider Monkey Score: 36.5
The mainly agricultural county previously experienced an oil boom during the 1950s. Today, Dawson County is known as being a stock county, with its nutritious grass and wide plains being excellent conditions for agricultural and livestock purposes. Its county seat is Glendive, the smallest US television market in America.
7. Fallon County
Cost of living: 11.5% lower than national average
Crime score: 25
Physicians per 100k: 69
Median House Value: $101,600
Insider Monkey Score: 36.9
The county was created in 1913 from land originally from Custer County. With abundant sandstone in the area, Medicine Rocks State Park near the county seat of Baker City offers interesting sandstone formations. Native Americans used to frequent the area for the many medicinal plants that grew here.
wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock.com
6. Pondera County
Cost of living: 13.4% lower than national average
Crime score: 34
Physicians per 100k: 98
Median House Value: $93,400
Insider Monkey Score: 37
Outdoor lovers would drool over the prospect over hiking one of the most picturesque national parks in America – the Lewis and Clark National Forest. With some parts located in the Pondera County, the camping grounds are accessible via 29 different routes. The park is teeming with wildlife, and fly fishing opportunities abound in the area.
5. Fergus County
Cost of living: 8.1% lower than national average
Crime score: 28
Physicians per 100k: 164
Median House Value: $116,700
Insider Monkey Score: 38
Like the previous entry, parts of the Lewis and Clark National Forest can also be found inside the borders of Fergus County. What makes Fergus County one of the best places to retire in Montana are the 2 other protected areas are within the borders of the county – the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge and the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.
4. Daniels County
Cost of living: 13.2% lower than national average
Crime score: 25
Physicians per 100k: 57
Median House Value: $93,900
Insider Monkey Score: 38.5
If laid back vibe and quaint lifestyle are two of the most yearned-for qualities of the best places to retire in America, then Daniels County would be a booming city full of retirees. Located south of the Canadian border, Daniels County was declared as the most rural county in all of the continental America by the Indiana Business Research Center.
Ruslan Guzov/Shutterstock.com
3. Golden Valley County
Cost of living: 12.9% lower than national average
Crime score: 27
Physicians per 100k: 113
Median House Value: $92,400
Insider Monkey Score: 39
With a population of 884, Golden Valley County is the 3rd least populous county in Montana. And if you are to retire here, take note that you only have to choose between 2 communities: Ryegate, the county seat, or Lavina.
2. Liberty County
Cost of living: 14.2% lower than national average
Crime score: 22
Physicians per 100k: 128
Median House Value: $83,200
Insider Monkey Score: 45
Also sharing a border with Canada, Liberty County is home to the Tiber Dam, which is one of the biggest earth-filled dams in the world. According to the Koppen classification of climates, the county experiences dry winters and hot but wetter summers.
1. Prairie County
Cost of living: 16.5% lower than national average
Crime score: 17
Physicians per 100k: 170
Median House Value: $76,400
Insider Monkey Score: 51
Prairie County had its 15 minutes of fame when it was the site of the Custer Creek train wreck in 1938. Nowadays, the county is known for the Terry Badlands, a designated wilderness study area. It banks on the beauty of the area to boost ecotourism in the county. Efforts to increase tourism have paid off in recent years, as the registry at the Evelyn Cameron Museum shows visitors as far away as Asia and Europe. Quite an achievement for a small county, which is why Prairie County is the number 1 on our list of the 10 best places to retire in Montana!
