Orchard HomesMT
A town of 5,588.
Is Orchard Homes a good place to live?
For most people who can afford it, yes. Orchard Homes grades A− overall, ranked 2nd of 41 in Montana. It has 17 miles of trail. Residents are healthier than 85% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates and its public schools beat 82% of Montana towns on state tests and graduation. The trade-off is money: homes are expensive, about $554K for a typical one and 7.4 times the Missoula metro’s $75K median household income. Orchard Homes’ trail density is 2.9 miles per square mile, against 0.6 in Montana’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns. On walkability, just 4 of Montana’s 95 towns do better. Target Range Elementary School and Maclay Bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places.
What makes Orchard Homes stand out
Where Orchard Homes beats most towns.
17 miles of trails in Orchard Homes
19.1% of the town is conserved land, across 6 parks and preserves.
How Orchard Homes grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Montana), ordered by how far Orchard Homes is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Orchard Homes: who provides what
Orchard Homes 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 Orchard Homes.
Orchard Homes has a shorter frost-free season than nearly all U.S. towns and is one of Montana’s best towns for the outdoors, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Montana.
Conserved land covers 19.1% of Orchard Homes
Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #3 of 42 in Montana.
Big Sky Park, at 122 acres with 2.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Big Sky Park | 2.4 mi | 122 |
| 2. Rosecrest Park | 0.6 mi | 8 |
| 3. Spurgin Park | 0.4 mi | 9 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Orchard Homes earns an A− for schools
Its public schools are run by the Target Range Elementary District. One of its 4 schools is below, with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target Range SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 410 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MT on state tests and graduation
A smaller share of adults in Orchard Homes sleep under 7 hours than in the typical Montana or U.S. town
26% of Orchard Homes adults sleep under 7 hours, where Montana’s towns sit at 32% and U.S. towns at 36%. 21% of adults binge drink in Orchard Homes. Orchard Homes beats the Montana average on 10 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0.
| Orchard Homes | Montana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 32% | 36% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 32% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 20% | 16% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 21% | 25% |
| What stands out | Orchard Homes | MT |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 8.8% | 12.3% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.9% | 11.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
About two in three of Orchard Homes’ working residents commute to Missoula
Jobs based here grew from 789 in 2013 to 1,210.
Most working residents leave Orchard Homes for work: only 4% work in town. The average trip to work in Orchard Homes is 16 minutes. Jobs based in Orchard Homes grew to 1,210 in 2023, 421 more than in 2013.
| Orchard Homes | Montana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 3.9% | 41% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 16 minutes | 17 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $65,000 | $68,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 8.7% | 11% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In Orchard Homes, expect snowy winters and pleasant summers
The Missoula Intl Ap weather station, 5 miles away, records that the frost-free season runs about 130 days, shorter than in 95% of U.S. towns.
Orchard Homes has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers, with very little rain. July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 18° and about 43 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Earthquakes leads a low hazard risk in Orchard Homes
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 67% of U.S. communities. Since 1996, 42 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Orchard Homes.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
An age mix much like Montana’s
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Montana average. 44% of Orchard Homes adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more.
| Orchard Homes | Montana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 44% | 30% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 23% | 19% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 22% | 22% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3 points. Across Montana, 49.3% of residents are women.
| Orchard Homes | MT | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.8% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 6.2% | 10% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 10.9% | 9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 8% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 16.4% | 12.9% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 9.4% | 11.1% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.8% | 13% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.2% | 12.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.2% | 7.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2.8% | 5.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 20.9% | 27.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 27.4% | 22.4% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 4.6% | 9.6% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 32.1% | 23.2% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.3% | 12% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
A home in Orchard Homes sells for about $770K at the median
At 7.4 years of the Missoula metro’s $75K median household income, the typical home costs more against local pay than in 77% of Montana towns; that ratio is one input to its C− for cost of living. The median property tax bill is $4,279, against $2,693 across Montana, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Lake Missoula and 5 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Orchard Homes. Close and well known come first.
7 mi LakeLake Missoula12 mi Ski areaMontana Snowbowl64 runs · 2,538 ft vertical
33 mi Park & preserveCSKT Bison Range
4 mi TheatreWilma Theater3 mi MuseumMissoula Art Museum
4 mi MuseumMontana Museum of Art & CulturePhoto 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 Orchard Homes
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Orchard Homes
About 2 of every 100 Orchard Homes residents are enrolled in college, against 5 across Montana.
96% of working residents leave Orchard Homes for work
Where Orchard Homes’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Orchard Homes
Census-designated place in Montana, United States
Orchard Homes is a census-designated place (CDP) in Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is part of the Missoula metropolitan area. The population was 5,377 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 5.9 sq mi
- Elevation
- 3,153 ft
- Area code
- 406
Orchard Homes’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Orchard Homes.
| Town | MT rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orchard Homes | #2 | A− | C− | — | A− | A− |
| Missoula | #21 | C+ | D | D | A− | A− |
Orchard Homes reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Orchard Homes with a neighbor →
Questions about Orchard Homes
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Orchard Homes, MT a good place to live?
For most people who can afford it, yes. Orchard Homes grades A− overall, better than 76% of U.S. towns and #2 of 41 in Montana. It grades A− for health and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Orchard Homes, MT expensive?
Yes. The typical home is worth about $554,000, 18% above 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 C−.