Counties / Montana / Lincoln County

Lincoln County, MT

FIPS 30053 · population 21,175 · outside every metro area

$435k
Zillow home value · 2026-06
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

Zillow home value
$435k
▲ 0.2% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$762
occupied-unit survey; not current asking rent
Census ACS · surveyed
Gross yield
n/a
gross yield cannot be computed without measured market rent
requires both measured price and measured rent
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,170
the Section 8 payment standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Independent price check

Do two methods point the same way?

Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.

Both annual signals move in the same direction
FHFA five-year cumulative+79.1%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+0.2%FHFA HPI2025+11.6%
Annual changes use different methods and may use different periods. The comparison checks direction and magnitude; it does not create a blended estimate. Zillow county ZHVI pulled 2026-07-26; FHFA annual county HPI pulled 2026-07-28.
Owner-reported value$297k
Surveyed gross rent$762
Rent burden 30%+45.5%
Median year built1982
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
17.5%vacant
11,006estimated housing units
Occupied tenure22.4% renter
owner 77.6%renter 22.4%
Structure mix77.3% single-family
Single-family 77.3%20+ units 1.0%Mobile home 15.0%Other 6.7%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs6,203▼ 0.9% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments937annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$944▲ 3.2% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services23.8% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.9%WEEKLY WAGE+3.2%Education and health services23.8%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Lincoln County’s decision tension is a nearly flat Zillow county value observation versus substantially stronger earlier FHFA index movement. Zillow reported a $434,536 median home value in 2026-06, up 0.16% year over year, while the FHFA repeat-transaction HPI for annual 2025 increased 11.62%. These are different vintages and measures: the HPI is not a home value, and neither reading can be blended into a single appreciation rate. Buyers relying on price momentum should investigate current comparable sales before assuming either signal governs an entry price.

02Housing economics

Published market rent is absent, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent and cannot fill that gap. The effective property-tax rate is 0.55%, useful carrying-cost context but not a parcel-specific bill. Underwriting cannot yet reconcile price with rent or establish net cash flow; property-level taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, and actual achieved rents are not published here.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS view shows 248 active listings, a 68-day median marketing time, a 22.11% price-reduced share, and a 16.73% pending-to-active ratio. These are asking-market supply and marketing signals, not closed-sale prices or standalone proof of buyer demand; reductions indicate visible seller concessions. Tax-return migration was net positive by 169 households, and movers’ reported average income gap favored inbound households by $27,325. The record lists 19 investor purchases out of 181, a 10.5% investor share, documenting participation but not all-cash competition or neighborhood-level bidding.

04Risk & next checks

Risk discipline should focus on inland flood exposure: modeled expected annual climate loss equals 0.23% of building value, not a parcel flood determination or insurance quote. The annual QCEW record shows covered workplace employment declined while average weekly wages rose; Education and health services was the largest disclosed private supersector, but this is neither resident employment nor a forecast. The thesis could change with parcel flood-zone and insurance evidence, closed-sale comparables, and current market rents; without them, affordability, resilience costs, and exit-price support remain untested.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Lincoln County

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Libby city3KEureka town1.8KWhite Haven CDP978Troy city871Pioneer Junction CDP798Trego CDP692West Kootenai CDP494Fortine CDP351
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

15 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Libby cityIncorporated place
    3,042
  2. 02
    Eureka townIncorporated place
    1,840
  3. 03
    White Haven CDPCensus-designated place
    978
  4. 04
    Troy cityIncorporated place
    871
  5. 05
    Pioneer Junction CDPCensus-designated place
    798
  6. 06
    Trego CDPCensus-designated place
    692
  7. 07
    West Kootenai CDPCensus-designated place
    494
  8. 08
    Fortine CDPCensus-designated place
    351
  9. 09
    Yaak CDPCensus-designated place
    293
  10. 10
    Bull Lake CDPCensus-designated place
    247
  11. 11
    Happys Inn CDPCensus-designated place
    229
  12. 12
    Sylvanite CDPCensus-designated place
    145
Show 3 more places
  1. 13
    Rexford townIncorporated place
    134
  2. 14
    Indian Springs CDPCensus-designated place
    0
  3. 15
    Stryker CDPCensus-designated place
    0

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardinland flooding

0.230% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.55%

$1,615 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+169

628 in · 459 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$27,325

$84,379 arriving · $57,054 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors10.5%

19 of 181 mortgages

investorother financed
Current listing pressure

What sellers and visible supply are doing

Realtor.com® Economic Research · county inventory 2026-06 · pulled 2026-07-28
Active listings248▲ 0.8% year over year
Median days on market68▼ 16.1% year over year
Listings price-reduced22.1%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 1.8% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

No rent index is published for this county.Zillow’s county rent series does not cover every county, and estimating one from a neighbouring county would be a guess wearing a number’s clothes. Everything above is measured here; no wider market is mapped for it either.
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Achievable rents and property operating costs could make the economics weaker than the purchase-price evidence suggests.
  2. Parcel flood exposure or insurance requirements could differ materially from the county-level climate-loss model.
  3. County-level listing, migration, and investor data may not represent demand or resale liquidity in the selected neighborhood.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Market rent is not published, and HUD Fair Market Rent is a payment standard rather than a substitute for asking rent.

What investor participation is reported?

The record lists 19 investor purchases out of 181 total purchases, for a 10.5% investor share.

What does the climate-loss figure measure?

It is a modeled expected annual loss of 0.23% of building value tied to inland-flood risk, not a parcel flood-zone finding or insurance quote.