Census-designated place · Missoula County, Montana

Clinton, Montana

Clinton is a census-designated place in Missoula County, Montana, part of the Missoula, MT metro area. It has 1,040 residents. Clinton, Montana has a quality-of-life score of 92 out of 100 (very high), ranking #1,330 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Montana it ranks #15 of 94 cities and towns. It ranks best on rent as share of income (low), distance to an airport (low) and high school diploma or higher (high). It ranks worst on suicide rate (high), comfortable days (low) and firearm deaths (high).

92Very high

Quality-of-life score: #1,330 of 15,651 cities and towns
Montana: #15 of 94 in MT
Population: 1,040 (2020-2024)
Land area: 3 mi²
Density: 317.9 /mi²
FIPS code: 3015475

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety13#13,572/15,637
Economy86#2,213/15,631
Housing91#1,285/14,977
Health69#4,802/15,609
Healthcare84#2,573/15,650
Environment65#5,391/15,453
Education90#1,605/15,649
Infrastructure84#2,451/15,650
Community97#533/15,651
Leisure & amenities90#1,538/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Clinton, Montana ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Missoula County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Rent as share of income · low13.5%
99/100Montana 27.8%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Distance to an airport · low7 mi
99/100Montana 53 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauMissoula County value
High school diploma or higher · high94.7%
99/100Montana 94.6%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
New business applications · high32.6 /1k
98/100Montana 26.1 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauMissoula County value
Arts, entertainment and recreation · high13.3 /10k
97/100Montana 13.7 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMissoula County value
Mental health providers · high714 /100k
97/100Montana 435 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMissoula County value

Weaknesses

Suicide rate · high29.5 /100k
4/100Montana 30.3 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataMissoula County value
Comfortable days · low22.7%
6/100Montana 22.7%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationMissoula County value
Firearm deaths · high23.8 /100k
8/100Montana 23.6 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataMissoula County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high99 mi
10/100Montana 117 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauMissoula County value
Violent crime rate · high471 /100k
11/100Montana 419 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationMissoula County value
Property crime rate · high2,055 /100k
13/100Montana 1,449 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationMissoula County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
757 (2015-2019) → 1,040 (2020-2024)
+37%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
19.8% (2015-2019) → 35.4% (2020-2024)
+16 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Child poverty rateImproving
19.6% (2015-2019) → 5.7% (2020-2024)
−14 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
High school diploma or higherImproving
82.3% (2015-2019) → 94.7% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Median household incomeImproving
$66,250 (2015-2019) → $103,750 (2020-2024)
+57%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
82.1% (2015-2019) → 93.2% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Clinton, Montana improved on 1 of 11 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 10 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved1

Bachelor's++16 points19.8% → 35.4%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 11 measures

Change of every measure of Clinton, Montana between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	29.8 min2015-2019	23.1 min2020-2024	−6.7 min	Within the margin of error	95%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.8%2015-2019	35.4%2020-2024	+16 points	Improved	97%
Broadband subscriptions	82.1%2015-2019	93.2%2020-2024	+11 points	Within the margin of error	65%
Effective property tax rate	0.85%2015-2019	0.74%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	37%
High school diploma or higher	82.3%2015-2019	94.7%2020-2024	+12 points	Within the margin of error	97%
Home price to income ratio	3.2×2015-2019	3.7×2020-2024	+0.5×	Within the margin of error	47%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3862015-2019	0.3202020-2024	−0.066	Within the margin of error	89%
Median household income	$66,2502015-2019	$103,7502020-2024	+57%	Within the margin of error	89%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	17.9%2015-2019	13.5%2020-2024	−4.4 points	Within the margin of error	80%
Rent-burdened households	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	56%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Clinton, Montana five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Clinton, Montana in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Clinton, Montana itself moved +16.2 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

1,040 residents (±281)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

366 households (±99)

Clinton, Montana
Montana share

Under $25k1.1%†4
$25k–50k5.5%†20
$50k–75k22%

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

366 households (±99)

Clinton, Montana
Montana share

Own86%†313
Rent14%†53

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

574 workers (±188)

Clinton, Montana
Montana share

Drive alone72%†412
Carpool18%†104
Public transit

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Missoula, MT

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Missoula County, the county holding most of Clinton's residents.

Missoula County has 4,816 employer establishments, 396 for every 10,000 residents (1.60× the US rate of 248; 1.05× Montana's), with 54,136 paid employees at an average annual pay of $50,657. The Census Bureau also counts 12,867 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 4,816; 12,867 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 396; US 248 · Montana 376
Paid employees: 54,136
Average annual pay: $50,657; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Missoula County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	418	34.4	1.65×More than typical	4,158	$69,468	726
Specialty trade contractors	371	30.5	1.97×More than typical	2,427	$68,475	813
Lessors of real estate	245	20.2	1.64×More than typical	751	$48,776	1,895
Restaurants and other eating places	242	19.9	1.08×About typical	5,543	$23,237	36
Offices of other health practitioners	205	16.9	2.78×More than typical	659	$41,854	521
Construction of buildings	202	16.6	2.20×More than typical	1,113	$65,260	454
Legal services	159	13.1	2.43×More than typical	754	$80,923	169
Services to buildings and dwellings	155	12.8	1.89×More than typical	879	$28,783	502
Management, scientific and technical consulting	139	11.4	1.71×More than typical	498	$58,197	611
Building equipment contractors	134	11	1.83×More than typical	1,199	$69,053	68
Real estate agents and brokers	120	9.9	2.03×More than typical	244	$49,020	322
Automotive repair and maintenance	106	8.7	1.73×More than typical	555	$46,737	83

Rank places for an industry Open Missoula County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 121,504 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $13.9K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Clinton, Montana: $13.35 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $13.9K
Per resident: $13.35; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Forest Service$13.5K97%
Federal Aviation Administration$3992.9%

Top recipients

STONE RIDGE CONSTRUCTION, INC$13.5K97%
C.N.S. COMMUNICATIONS, LLC$3992.9%

Spending by fiscal year

608FY2017
694.8FY2018
471.3FY2019
1.4KFY2020
-575.1FY2021
575.1FY2022
-123.3FY2023
359.6FY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Highway, street, and bridge construction · 2373$13.5K97%
Building equipment contractors · 2382$3992.9%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Clinton, Montana, so they do not add up across cities.

Clinton, Montana's figures are part of those of Missoula County, MT ($93M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Clinton is mostly in Missoula County.

See federal money in Missoula County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Clinton, Montana is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Ryan K. ZinkeR-MT-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 3.0%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Missoula County86100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Missoula, MT90

Other cities and towns in Missoula County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/3015475

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends