Counties / Montana / Sheridan County

Sheridan County, MT

FIPS 30091 · population 3,669 · outside every metro area

$188k
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
$188k
▲ 9.6% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$746
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
$1,211
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.

One annual series is unavailable
FHFA five-year cumulative+44.8%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+9.6%FHFA HPI2025n/a
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$124k
Surveyed gross rent$746
Rent burden 30%+51.3%
Median year built1963
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
27.7%vacant
2,041estimated housing units
Occupied tenure28.2% renter
owner 71.8%renter 28.2%
Structure mix77.8% single-family
Single-family 77.8%20+ units 3.6%Mobile home 10.0%Other 8.7%
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 jobs1,275▼ 0.1% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments213annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$974▲ 4.2% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities33.2% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.1%WEEKLY WAGE+4.2%Trade, transportation, and utilities33.2%
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

Sheridan County presents a valuation-versus-liquidity tension: Zillow’s June 2026 median home value is $188,024, up 9.56% year over year, while Realtor.com’s June 2026 median MLS listing price is down 9.35%. These are not conflicting sale measures: Zillow reports a home-value estimate, whereas Realtor.com reports asking-price evidence. Exit-sensitive buyers should be cautious; operators willing to obtain asset-level rent evidence should investigate.

02Housing economics

Countywide market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR of $1,211 per month is a payment standard, not measured asking rent, and cannot fill that gap. The effective property-tax rate is 1.23%, with median annual property tax of $1,521, making tax verification part of carrying-cost diligence. FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose cumulatively 44.84% over five years; it is not a dollar home value and does not share Zillow’s June 2026 vintage or method, so the two rates should not be combined.

03Demand & competition

Tax-return migration showed a net outflow of 42 households, although incoming moving households averaged $6,058 more income than outgoing households. Reported investor participation was 0%: zero investor purchases among 15 reported purchases, which limits evidence of non-owner buyer competition rather than proving its absence. QCEW recorded 1,275 annual-average covered jobs at county workplaces, down 0.08%. Trade, transportation, and utilities represented 33.20% of private covered employment; this is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the entire county economy. Together, migration, employment, and purchase data do not establish renter demand.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the modeled annual climate-loss ratio is 0.06% of building value. That county-level model is not a parcel loss estimate; flood zone, elevation, prior claims, and insurance terms could alter economics materially. Next checks are property-specific lease comparables, actual tax assessments, flood insurance quotes, and MLS closed-sale and concession data. Without market rent and closed-sale evidence, neither stabilized yield nor reliable exit pricing can be underwritten from this record.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Sheridan 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
Plentywood city1.7KWestby town290Medicine Lake town213Outlook town51Homestead CDP27Reserve CDP19Redstone CDP4Antelope CDP0
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

8 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Plentywood cityIncorporated place
    1,654
  2. 02
    Westby townIncorporated place
    290
  3. 03
    Medicine Lake townIncorporated place
    213
  4. 04
    Outlook townIncorporated place
    51
  5. 05
    Homestead CDPCensus-designated place
    27
  6. 06
    Reserve CDPCensus-designated place
    19
  7. 07
    Redstone CDPCensus-designated place
    4
  8. 08
    Antelope 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

0.058% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.23%

$1,521 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-42

20 in · 62 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$6,058

$86,300 arriving · $80,242 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors0.0%

0 of 15 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 listings12▼ 31.4% year over year
Median days on market88▲ 32.6% year over year
Listings price-reduced8.7%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 9.3% 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. County-level measures may not reflect the subject property's condition, rent, or micro-location.
  2. MLS listing indicators can diverge from closed-sale pricing and actual buyer demand.
  3. Inland-flood exposure and insurance costs may vary materially by parcel.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Does the record support a gross-yield calculation?

No. County market rent is not published, and HUD FMR cannot substitute for measured asking rent.

Is the Realtor.com price movement a closed-sale price measure?

No. It is a change in median MLS listing price, which is asking-price evidence.

What does the FHFA figure establish?

It measures cumulative repeat-transaction home-price-index appreciation through 2025, not a current dollar home value.