Lake County, Montana Demographics

Population trends, housing costs, income, commuting, and health, all on one page.

Lake County, MT Population Density Map and Area Scores

Area Score

Health, income and education, each graded from F to A+. Explore interactive maps for deeper analysis.

  • B
    Health Around average
  • D
    Income Well below average
    Less wealthy than 73% of counties in Montana
  • C
    Education Below average
    Better educated than 82% of counties in Montana

Source: Map AI Methodology

Lake County
Click a county to open it Explore the map →
Population density, people per sq mi

Population: density and quick facts

Metric Lake County Montana Avg U.S. Average
Population 32,553 1,116,812 337,468,954
Population density (per sq mi) 19.7 7.6 86.4
Population growth (%/yr) 1.32% 1.09% 0.59%
Median age 42.8 40.7 37.3
Households 12,573 458,835 130,235,071

Population in Lake County grew by 15.3% from 2009 to 2024, reaching 32,553 in 2024.

Population Growth 2009–2024

Year Lake County

Race & Ethnicity

Group Share

Age & Sex

The largest generation in Lake County is Boomers, aged 61–79, at 23.6% of residents. That is 4.2 points above Montana as a whole.

Residents by birth cohort, from the 2025 age distribution. The right-hand figure is how far each cohort's share sits above or below Montana, in percentage points. Children younger than Gen Z and the generations before the Boomers are counted in the population but not shown here, so these shares do not add up to 100%.

Male and female share

Women are 50.5% of the people living in Lake County and men 49.5%.

How many residents match a customer profile?

Who to count

Residents matching this profile

32,553

100% of everyone living in Lake County

Pick an age range and a women/men split and the figure above answers with how many residents that profile reaches.

Economy

Lake County has a the economy index of D, which means it is barely prosperous.

Metric Lake County Montana Avg U.S. Average
Median household income $63,733 $72,476 $80,455
Income growth (%/yr) 6.05% 5.17% 4.80%
Unemployment rate 5.7% 3.6% 5.2%

The median household income in Lake County is about 12% lower than in Montana.

Detailed wealth and income breakdown →

Housing

Metric Lake County Montana Avg U.S. Average
Median home price $402,194 $249,140 $248,835
Median rent $901 $1,081 $1,407
Homeownership rate 75.0% 69.2% 65.2%

The median home price in Lake County is about 37.2 years' worth of rent — buying at the median price costs roughly as much as paying the median rent of $901 per month for that long.

Full housing market analysis →

Commute Time & Mobility

Commuters in Lake County spend about 34 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 143 hours, about 5.9 full days, spent commuting.

Metric Lake County Montana Avg U.S. Average
One-way commute (min) 17.1 16.0 22.4
Round-trip commute (min) 34.2 32.1 44.8
Yearly time spent (hours) 143 134 187
Estimated yearly cost $4,419 $4,143 $5,790
Work from home 13.2% 12.5% 15.0%
Highway traffic (vehicles/day) 2,102 2,162 8,813
Local road traffic (vehicles/day) 407 403 1,355

Fastest commutes among counties in Montana: Treasure County (7.2 min), Rosebud County (8.2 min), Fallon County (8.4 min).
Slowest: Broadwater County (30.3 min), Stillwater County (27.8 min), Granite County (23.3 min).

The average commute time in Lake County is 17 minutes, longer than the 16 minutes in Montana.

Estimated yearly cost applies a single national wage rule of thumb (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics average hourly earnings), not a measurement of wages in this area. Traffic volume figures come from proprietary Ticon and TrafficZoom data.

Commute and transport details →

Education & Households

Lake County has a education index of C, which means it is somewhat educated.

Metric Lake County Montana Avg U.S. Average
Bachelor's degree or higher 29.6% 31.3% 31.6%
Average household size 2.56 2.37 2.53

Highest education index among counties in Montana: Gallatin County (0.4), Missoula County (0.3), Lewis and Clark County (0.3).
Lowest: Liberty County (0.2), Toole County (0.2), Wheatland County (0.2).

Health

Lake County has a health index of B, which means it is quite healthy.

Metric Lake County Montana Avg U.S. Average
Life expectancy (years) 79.9 79.0 78.3
Self-rated poor health 15.7% 14.7% 16.3%
Smokers 19.3% 18.8% 19.0%

Highest health index among counties in Montana: Gallatin County (0.8), Missoula County (0.8), Granite County (0.8).
Lowest: Glacier County (0.7), Big Horn County (0.8), Roosevelt County (0.8).

Full health data →

Lake County, MT Compared With Nearby Counties

How Lake County, MT compares with the 2 counties closest to it.

Area Population Median household income Median home price Commute
Lake County, MT 32,553 $63,733 #3/3 $402,194 #3/3 17.1 min #2/3
Missoula County, MT 120,671 $75,565 $463,380 16.1 min
Flathead County, MT 110,697 $73,879 $442,215 17.7 min

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Lake County, Montana.

How big is Lake County, Montana by population?

About 32,553 people live in Lake County, Montana, in 12,573 households of 2.6 people on average. The median age is 42.8, so residents are older than the U.S. median of 37.3 by about 6 years.

Is Lake County, Montana urban or rural?

Averaged over its land area, Lake County, Montana has 20 people per square mile, a density typical of rural areas. That is about 23% of the U.S. average of 86.

How affordable is housing in Lake County, Montana?

The median home costs 6.3 times the median household income ($402,194 against $63,733), compared with 3.1 times nationally. A ratio of about 3 is traditionally considered affordable. Median rent of $901 a month takes about 17% of the median household's income, below the 30% level at which HUD considers renters cost-burdened.

Analyze any area in the US

Get local demographics for any address, aggregated by drive time or radius, on the interactive map.

Explore the map →