Bonner-West RiversideMT
A town of 1,563.
Is Bonner-West Riverside a good place to live?
Bonner-West Riverside’s best subject grades are an A for health and the outdoors; its weakest is a C− for hazard risk. 4.1% of working residents work locally in Bonner-West Riverside, below both Montana’s towns (39%) and U.S. towns (8%). On health, just 9 of Montana’s 94 towns do better. Bonner-West Riverside’s trail density is 1.5 miles per square mile, against 0.6 in Montana’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Milltown State Park, at 40 acres. Bonner-West Riverside has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Bonner-West Riverside stand out
Where Bonner-West Riverside beats most towns.
How Bonner-West Riverside grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Montana), ordered by how far Bonner-West Riverside is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Bonner-West Riverside: who provides what
Bonner-West Riverside is unincorporated, so Missoula County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Bonner-West Riverside.
Fewer of Bonner-West Riverside’s adults sleep under 7 hours than in the typical Montana or U.S. town
27% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Bonner-West Riverside. Only 3 of the 42 Montana towns we compare have a lower share of adults who get no exercise outside work than Bonner-West Riverside. 24% of adults binge drink in Bonner-West Riverside.
| Bonner-West Riverside | Montana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 20% | 16% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 32% | 36% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 32% | 35% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 32% | 35% |
| What stands out | Bonner-West Riverside | MT |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 7.8% | 12.3% |
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 5% | 6.6% |
| More binge drinkers | 23.7% | 20.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
On state tests, Bonner-West Riverside’s schools trail 54% of Montana districts
Its public schools are run by the Bonner Elementary District. One of its 2 schools is below, with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonner SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 227 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MT on state tests and graduation
Bonner-West Riverside faces a high natural-hazard risk, led by avalanches
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 76% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Bonner-West Riverside has snowy winters and pleasant summers
Bonner-West Riverside has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with very little rain. The July high in Bonner-West Riverside is 82°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
More than half of Bonner-West Riverside’s working residents commute to Missoula
Most working residents leave Bonner-West Riverside for work: only 4% work in town. Since 2013, Bonner-West Riverside has added 337 jobs, to 740 in 2023. 15% of Bonner-West Riverside residents live below the poverty line.
| Bonner-West Riverside | Montana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 15% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 17 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $62,000 | $67,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
6.6% of Bonner-West Riverside is conserved land
2.4 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Milltown State Park | 0.6 mi | 40 |
| 2. Hellgate Lions Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
A home in Bonner-West Riverside sells for about $334K at the median
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Lake Missoula and 5 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Bonner-West Riverside. Close and well known come first.
13 mi LakeLake Missoula11 mi Ski areaMontana Snowbowl64 runs · 2,538 ft vertical
34 mi Park & preserveCSKT Bison Range
5 mi TheatreWilma Theater
5 mi MuseumMontana Museum of Art & Culture6 mi MuseumMissoula Art MuseumPhoto credits
Lake Missoula: USGS, Public domain · CSKT Bison Range: Paul Frederickson, CC BY 2.5 · Wilma Theater: Publichall, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Montana Museum of Art & Culture: DocFreeman24, CC BY-SA 4.0
Everything we know about Bonner-West Riverside
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Bonner-West Riverside
About 3 of every 100 Bonner-West Riverside residents are enrolled in college, against 5 across Montana.
About Bonner-West Riverside
Census-designated place in Montana, United States
Bonner-West Riverside (Salish: Nʔaycčstm, "Place of the Big Bull Trout") is a census-designated place (CDP) in Missoula County, Montana, United States, including the unincorporated communities of Bonner, Milltown (formerly Riverside), West Riverside, and Pinegrove. It is part of the Missoula metropolitan area. The population was 1,690 at the 2020 census. Bonner was named for Edward L. Bonner, president of the Missoula and Bitter Root Valley Railroad. Bonner was also a partner in Eddy, Hammond & Company, who were contracted by the Northern Pacific Railroad for lumber to build their railway between the Thompson and Blackfoot rivers. Eddy, Hammond & Company founded the Montana Improvement Comp…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 1.6 sq mi
Bonner-West Riverside’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Bonner-West Riverside.
| Town | MT rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonner-West Riverside | — | — | B | — | B− | A |
| Piltzville | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Bonner-West Riverside has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Bonner-West Riverside reports no FBI crime data of its own. Piltzville isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Bonner-West Riverside with a neighbor →
Questions about Bonner-West Riverside
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Bonner-West Riverside, MT expensive?
The typical home is worth about $211,000, 55% below the Montana typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.