Gallatin and Flathead were the fastest growing counties in Montana between 2023 and 2024, while the city of Kalispell has grown nearly 25% since 2020, adding more residents than any Montana city, according to the latest population growth data from the U.S. Census
The federal government last week released the latest population counts for the nation’s more than 3,000 counties, as well as all incorporated cities and towns.
In Montana, 32 of the state’s 56 counties saw a population increase, concentrated in the state’s western counties, while the mostly eastern counties that saw population declines did so by just over a thousand cumulative residents, reports the Daily Montanan.
As a whole, Montana added 5,931 new residents between July 1, 2023 and July 1, 2024, for a total state population of 1,137,233. The state’s growth rate of .52% was slower than the national growth rate of 1%, partly due to a last-in-the-nation level of international migration, and far lower than in recent years. Between 2020 and 2021, Montana added a whopping 19,000 new residents.
The United States has added 3,304,757 people between 2023 and 2024.
In the last release of census data, Gallatin and Flathead counties added 1,055 and 1,032 new residents, respectively, the first time since the population boom began in 2020 Flathead County hasn’t led in raw numbers. But the northwest county had a higher rate of change at .91% compared to Gallatin’s .84%.
Broadwater County had the highest percentage population increase in the last year, 2.96%, and over the last four years, with 22.2%, but the county’s 8,302 residents makes it just the 27th most inhabited in Montana.
Since 2020, however, Flathead County has led the state in sheer number of additional residents, adding more than 10,100 to Gallatin’s just over 8,000 and Yellowstone County’s 6,800.
Meanwhile, Kalispell, the county seat of the Flathead, added 1,125 new residents between 2023 and 2024 for a population of 31,296, a nearly 4% increase stemming from the city’s annexation of new developments and migration into the area.
Bozeman added the second most residents, 788, followed by Billings (686), Missoula (557) and Helena (360). Of the state’s most populous cities, Great Falls, Havre and Sidney all lost residents.
Kalispell’s growth is even more drastic over the last four years. Between 2020 and 2024, the city added 6,218 new residents, a 24.8% increase that ranked the city 39th in the nation for growth among cities with more than 20,000 residents.
Helena, which grew by 8.2%, and Bozeman, which grew by 8.1%, ranked in the 260s.
Kalispell City Manager Doug Russell said seeing the actual numbers isn’t a big surprise for the people who have been working to accommodate the rising population.
“We’ve experienced that large growth in person over the years,” Russel said.
Russell said that planning for increased growth is key to keeping city services and infrastructure at a level to handle the demands of a rapidly growing population.
“Our public works department has done a really great job updating facilities plans on a routine basis and updating growth models to to anticipate where we’ll need to prioritize infrastructure projects,” Russel said.
Among the major infrastructure projects Kalispell has prioritized in recent years are construction of a new water tower to bolster the municipal water storage and working with the state transportation department to address potential bottlenecks along major transit corridors, such as W. Reserve Drive, along the city’s north end.
Russell said the city is currently updating its land use policy, which will allow city officials to prepare for the next round of anticipated growth.
If Kalispell’s growth trend continues, it could soon overtake Helena and Butte-Silver Bow in size.
Just north of Kalispell, Whitefish has also grown by nearly 20% since 2020, adding 1,481 residents, while nearby Polson and Columbia Falls have grown 9.6% and 7.4%.
Belgrade, a suburb of Bozeman, one of the state’s least affordable cities, is the only other large city in Montana to exceed 20% growth, adding 2,265 residents since 2020.
On the other end of the spectrum, Montana’s smallest incorporated town, Ismay, has stayed exactly the same, with 21 residents since 2020, according to Census data.
A call placed to the only publicly listed phone number in Ismay, the Ismay Community Church, did not get a response on Tuesday to verify the town’s 21 residents.
Two other incorporated towns in Montana showed flat growth rates since 2020, both on the Hi-Line in Phillips County — Dodson, which increased from 126 residents to 127 in 2023, but then returned to 126 in 2024, and Malta, which has fluctuated around 1,853 residents for several years.
Nationally, of the 10 fastest growing cities in the country, six are in Texas, and one each is in Florida, Utah, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Forney, Texas, added 15,079 residents between 2020 and 2024, a 62.2% increase.
The nation’s fastest shrinking city was Big Spring, Texas, which lost 14% of its population.
A county shift
The U.S. Census Bureau data breaks out changes to county population by natural change — the difference due to birth rates and death rates — and net migration into and out of a county.
While Flathead and Gallatin counties each grew by roughly the same 1,000 residents between 2023 and 2024, they did so in vastly different ways.
A quarter of Gallatin County’s increase was due to a younger population. The county’s birth rate was 1,141 people while only 686 individuals died during the year of record.
Meanwhile Flathead, Missoula, and Yellowstone counties had almost equal numbers of births and deaths in their communities, trends that extend back to 2020.
Flathead County’s primary source of growth is new residents moving to the county. Ninety-nine percent of new residents between 2020 and 2024 relocated to the area, while just three-quarters of new Gallatin County residents did.
Both on the eastern side of the state, Montana’s two least populous counties, Treasure and Petroleum, with 739 and 535 residents respectively, saw the largest population percentage decline in residents.
Petroleum lost 18 residents in 2024, six from a higher death rate than birth rate, and 12 who moved out of the county. Treasure County dropped by 28 residents, gaining two from natural change, but losing 30 to relocation.
The state’s largest county, Yellowstone, with 171,583 residents, is more populous than the state’s 36 least inhabited combined.
