Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,872, settled in 1887.
The best of Lame Deer’s subject grades are a B+ for cost of living and a B for walkability; the weakest is a D− for incomes. 56% of residents live below the poverty line in Lame Deer, above both Montana’s towns (10%) and U.S. towns (9.6%). No town in Montana scores lower than Lame Deer on health. Lame Deer's schools rank behind 98% of the state's. Lame Deer’s trail density is 1.1 miles per square mile, above both Montana’s towns (0.6) and U.S. towns (0.4). Lame Deer is home to Chief Dull Knife College. On the outdoors, just 7 of Montana’s 95 towns do worse. Lame Deer has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Lame Deer beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| College | Students |
|---|---|
| Chief Dull Knife College | 227 |
| Widest gap | Lame Deer | MT |
|---|---|---|
| More adults facing food insecurity | 49.2% | 11.7% |
Where Lame Deer’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Montana), ordered by how far Lame Deer is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1933.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Lame Deer is unincorporated, so Rosebud 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.
Ordered by what stands out in Lame Deer.
41% of Lame Deer adults say their health is fair or poor. No town among the 42 in Montana we compare has a higher share of adults who report frequent mental distress than Lame Deer. 25% of Lame Deer adults report frequent physical distress.
| Lame Deer | Montana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 19% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 14% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 49% | 32% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 10% | 12% |
| What stands out | Lame Deer | MT |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.7% | 9.3% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 49.2% | 11.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Lame Deer Elementary District. No of its 1 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MT on state tests and graduation
The median household income in Lame Deer is $24,000. Jobs based in Lame Deer fell to 744 in 2023, 283 fewer than in 2013. 60% of working residents work locally in Lame Deer.
| Lame Deer | Montana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 60% | 39% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 12 minutes | 17 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $24,000 | $67,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 93% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Lame Deer has cold, snowy winters and warm summers, with very little rain. July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 12° and about 37 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
61 miles of trail in 0 parks and preserves. Only 2 of the 43 Montana towns we compare have a lower share of conserved land than Lame Deer.
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Lame Deer
About 3 of every 100 Lame Deer residents are enrolled in college, against 5 across Montana.
CDP in Montana, United States
Lame Deer (Meaveʼhoʼeno in Cheyenne) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Rosebud County, Montana, United States. The community is named after Miniconjou Lakota chief Lame Deer, who was killed by the U.S. Army in 1877 under a flag of truce south of the town. It was the site of a trading post from the late 1870s. As of the 2020 census, Lame Deer had a population of 1,897. It is the tribal and government agency headquarters of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. This is the location of the Chief Dull Knife College and the annual Northern Cheyenne Powwow.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Lame Deer.
Lame Deer has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Lame Deer reports no FBI crime data of its own. Muddy isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Lame Deer with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.