Glacier County Courthouse · Photo: J.B. Chandler · CC BY-SA 3.0Cut Bank’s household incomes are lower than in 88% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 18.9% of residents, against 11.5% across Montana. Cut Bank grades D for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in three work in Cut Bank; the top destination outside it is Browning (7%, 32 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Cut Bank: the figures worth knowing
Most jobs in Cut Bank go to people who live here
Of the 970 jobs based in Cut Bank, 52% are held by Cut Bank residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Cut Bank are quick
The average trip to work takes 11 minutes, against 19 across Montana. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Montana worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Cut Bank
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cut Bank is better than 14% of U.S. towns, #37 of 42 in Montana. Unemployment holds Cut Bank’s grade up (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cut Bank could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Who leaves Cut Bank for work, and who comes in
On a workday 851 residents head out to work, 506 work right here, and 464 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,600 people are in Cut Bank on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.71 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting from Cut Bank: about 11 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cut Bank workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,025 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across Montana: 81% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The towns that employ Cut Bank’s residents
Where Cut Bank clocks in
7% of workers
7% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Jobs in Cut Bank: what the 970 are
970 jobs are based in Cut Bank.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cut Bank, 2013 → 2023: 1,176 → 970. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cut Bank’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Cut Bank
About 28% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Cut Bank is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,081 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.2% of Cut Bank households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cut Bank’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cut Bank next to U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,000: 3,929th of 4,618 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 922 | Big Sky MT | 2,445 | $139K | 4.7% | 1.4% | 68% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,101 | Montana City MT | 3,092 | $130K | 1.8% | 3.9% | 7% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,563 | Glasgow MT | 3,145 | $90K | 8.0% | 0.5% | 52% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,927 | Mount Morris NY | 2,857 | $51K | 13.3% | 7.7% | 12% | D |
| 3,928 | Wahneta FL | 3,876 | $47K | 24.2% | 7.3% | 1% | D |
| 3,929 | Cut Bank MT | 2,976 | $49K | 18.9% | 3.5% | 37% | D |
| 3,930 | Saugerties NY | 3,853 | $58K | 21.0% | 7.3% | 13% | D |
| 3,931 | Drummer Township IL | 3,914 | $51K | 12.6% | 9.5% | 33% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,618 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Cut Bank, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
How Cut Bank compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cut Bank workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cut Bank | – | D | A | 11 min | $49,432 |
| Little Browning | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Little Browning: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cut Bank’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Cut Bank: questions
What is the median household income in Cut Bank?
$49,432 (±$18,438) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cut Bank?
18.9%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cut Bank?
11 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cut Bank work?
37% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Browning (7%, 32 mi), East Glacier Park Village (7%, 43 mi), Great Falls (5%, 92 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cut Bank walkable?
Cut Bank is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cut Bank without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cut Bank, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cut Bank
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.