Sanders County

The median income of households in Sanders County, Montana was $57,476. An estimated 4.6% of households had income below $10,000 a year and 3.6% had income of $200,000 or more.

An estimated 58.9% of households received earnings. An estimated 55.1% of households received Social Security and an estimated 37.7 % of households received retirement income other than Social Security. The average income from Social Security was $25,290. These income sources are not mutually exclusive; that is, some households received income from more than one source.

In 2020-2024, 15.4 % of people were in poverty. An estimated 23.8% of children under 18 were below the poverty level, compared with 7.7% of people 65 years old and over. An estimated 17.8% of people 18 to 64 years were below the poverty level.

In 2020-2024, 11.2 % of households received SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). An estimated 25.7% of households that received SNAP had children under 18, and 43.3% of households that received SNAP had one or more people 60 years and over. An estimated 18.4% of all households receiving SNAP were families with a female householder and no spouse present.

Among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in Sanders County, Montana in 2020-2024, 86.3% had health insurance coverage and 13.7% did not have health insurance coverage. Private coverage was 46.8% and public coverage was 59%, respectively. The percentage of children under the age of 19 with no health insurance coverage was 18.2%.

In 2020-2024, Sanders County, Montana had a total population of 13,285 - 6,508 (49%) females and 6,777 (51%) males. The median age was 54.6 years. An estimated 17% of the population was under 18 years, 19.3% was 19 to 44 years, 27.1% was 45 to 64 years, and 33 % was 65 years and older.

In 2020-2024, there were 5,451 households in Sanders County, Montana. The average household size was 2.4 people.

Married-couple households made up 56.3% of the households in Sanders County, Montana while cohabiting couple households made up 2.6% of households. Female householders with no spouse or partner present were 19.4% of all households, while 21.7% of households had male householders with no spouse or partner present. Some households had one person, as 18.6% of households were male householders living alone, and 13.4% were female householders living alone, for a total of 32% of all households.

In Sanders County, Montana, 17% of all households had one or more people under the age of 18; 52.6% of all households had one or more people 65 years and over.

In 2020-2024, an estimated 98.3% of the people living in Sanders County, Montana were U.S. natives. 34.4% of the Sanders County, Montana population were living in the state where they were born.

Approximately 1.7% of Sanders County, Montana residents in 2020-2024 were foreign-born. 85.3% of foreign-born were naturalized U.S. citizens and an estimated 87.9 % entered the country before the year 2010.

Foreign-born residents of Sanders County, Montana come from different parts of the world. The bar graph below displays the percentage of foreign-born from each world region of birth in 2020-2024 for Sanders County, Montana.

Among people at least five years old living in Sanders County, Montana in 2020-2024, 5.6 % spoke a language other than English at home. Spanish was spoken by 1.2% of people at least five years old; 1.1% reported that they did not speak English "very well."

In 2020-2024, 88.7 % of the people at least one year old living in Sanders County, Montana were living in the same house one year earlier.

In 2020-2024, 91.7 % of people 25 years and over had at least graduated from high school and 21.5% had a bachelor's degree or higher. An estimated 8.3% did not complete high school.

The total school enrollment in Sanders County, Montana was 2,267 in 2020-2024. Nursery school enrollment was 99 and kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment was 1,814. College or graduate school enrollment was 354.

In Sanders County, Montana, among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in 2020-2024, 23 % reported a disability. The likelihood of having a disability varied by age - from 7.1% of people under 18 years old, to 19.3% of people 18 to 64 years old, and to 36.7% of those 65 and over.

In Sanders County, Montana, 39.5 % of the population 16 and over were employed; 58% were not currently in the labor force.

An estimated 70.9% of the people employed were private wage and salary workers; 18.8% were federal, state, or local government workers; and 9.8 % were self-employed in their own (not incorporated) business.

In 2020-2024, the civilian employed population 16 years and older in Sanders County, Montana worked in the following industries:

An estimated 64.6% of Sanders County, Montana workers drove to work alone in 2020-2024, and 10.2% carpooled. Among those who commuted to work, it took them on average 22 minutes to get to work.

In 2020-2024, Sanders County, Montana had a total of 6,808 housing units. Of these housing units, 78.6% were single-family houses either not attached to any other structure or attached to one or more structures (commonly referred to as "townhouses" or "row houses"). 4.1% of the housing units were located in multi-unit structures, or those buildings that contained two or more apartments. 16.1% were mobile homes, while any remaining housing units were classified as "other," which included boats, recreational vehicles, vans, etc.

16.5% of the housing inventory was comprised of houses built since 2010, while 9.5% of the houses were first built in 1939 or earlier. The median number of rooms in all housing units in Sanders County, Montana was 5.1 rooms, and of these housing units 57.1% had three or more bedrooms.

In 2020-2024, Sanders County, Montana had 5,451 housing units that were occupied or had people living in them, while the remaining 1,357 were vacant. Of the occupied housing units, the percentage of these houses occupied by owners (also known as the homeownership rate) was 81.3% while renters occupied 18.7%. The average household size of owner-occupied houses was 2.44 and in renter-occupied houses it was 2.22.

2.8% of householders of these occupied houses had moved into their house since 2021, while 8.4% moved into their house in 1989 or earlier. Households without a vehicle available for personal use comprised 4.5% and another 37.3% had three or more vehicles available for use.

The following chart provides the primary fuel used to heat houses in Sanders County, Montana:

In 2020-2024, the median property value for owner-occupied houses in Sanders County, Montana was $359,000.

Of the owner-occupied households, 41.7 % had a mortgage. 58.3% owned their houses "free and clear," that is without a primary mortgage or loan on the house. The median monthly housing costs for owners with a mortgage was $1,430 and for owners without a mortgage it was $446.

For renter-occupied houses, the median gross rent for Sanders County, Montana was $820. Gross rent includes the monthly contract rent and any monthly payments made for electricity, gas, water and sewer, and any other fuels to heat the house.