Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The best of Chinook’s subject grades are an A for walkability and an A− for civic life; the weakest is a D for schools. Chinook has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Lohman Block and Dave's Texaco. Chinook has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Chinook beats most towns.
Lohman BlockIn a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Montana), ordered by how far Chinook is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 780 in 1910, a peak of 2,326 in 1960, 1,185 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 1987 and 2 maps from 1904 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Chinook, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Chinook.
For households in Chinook, the share who live in a home they own is 80%.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The public schools here belong to the Chinook Elementary District. Below: Two of its 3 schools, each with why it was picked. 3 public schools serve Chinook, with 322 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meadowlark SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 144 | C− |
| Chinook High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 115 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MT on state tests and graduation
Four-year graduates: 36% of adults 25 and older here, 35% across Montana. Adults 18 to 34 are one in ten residents (22% statewide); children under 18 are 30% of residents (21% statewide). The share of residents in Chinook who are 65 or older is 24%, where Montana’s towns sit at 19% and U.S. towns at 18%, and in Chinook, the median age is 44.8 years.
| Chinook | Montana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 30% | 22% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 24% | 19% | 18% |
| Median age | 44.8 years | 38.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 36% | 30% | 29% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.3 points. Across Montana, 49.3% of residents are women.
| Chinook | MT | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.7% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 16.5% | 10% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 3% | 9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 7.3% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 9.7% | 12.9% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.7% | 11.1% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.1% | 13% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 14.2% | 12.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 9.8% | 7.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4% | 5.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 33.5% | 27.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 17.4% | 22.4% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.3% | 9.6% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 20.6% | 23.2% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 15.3% | 12% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,200, single groups can be off by several points
July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 6° and about 41 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The top destinations are Havre (10%), Harlem (3%) and Missoula (3%). In Chinook, about one in three working residents works in town. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in Chinook dropped by 102, to 409. Its typical journey to work stands at 11 minutes, below both Montana’s towns (17 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes).
| Chinook | Montana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 11 minutes | 17 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 36% | 39% | 8% |
| Median household income | $62,000 | $67,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 8.4% | 10% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
31% of adults feel lonely in Chinook. Only 3 of the 42 Montana towns we compare have a lower share of adults who sleep under 7 hours than Chinook. Two figures for adults here: 73% had a checkup this year, 19% binge drink.
| Chinook | Montana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 32% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 73% | 72% | 79% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 20% | 16% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| What stands out | Chinook | MT |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.6% | 12.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected damage from storms and floods is higher here than in 63% of U.S. communities. FEMA puts just over half of Chinook’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 40% to cold waves. 2 flood insurance claims have been paid here since 2002.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
In Chinook, the property offense rate is 6 per 1,000 residents. The town reports less crime per resident than 55% of the U.S. towns and cities we grade. No violent crime was reported here.
| Chinook | Montana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0 per 1,000 residents | 4.3 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 6 per 1,000 residents | 14.9 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Chinook’s concentration of trails is 0.2 miles per square mile. 0.1 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. Only 4 of the 43 Montana towns we compare have a lower share of conserved land than Chinook.
| Chinook | Montana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.9% | 9.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sweet Memorial Park | — | 2 |
| 2. North Side Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Chinook; the nearest are
About 1 of every 100 Chinook residents are enrolled in college, against 5 across Montana.
3 places in Chinook on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in Montana, United States
Chinook is a city in and the county seat of Blaine County, Montana, United States. The population was 1,185 at the 2020 census. Points of interest are the Blaine County Museum, Blaine County Wildlife Museum, both located in the town's center, and the Bear Paw Battlefield, located 20 miles (32 km) south of Chinook.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
That is 3.3 years of the area's median household income ($64,813 across the county). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
