Best Cities in Montana for Schools

Welcome to SchoolDigger, your premier source for city-wide school rankings! Our user-friendly platform focuses on test scores, presenting a transparent, data-driven comparison to help you navigate the educational scene. Explore top-rated cities in Montana and make informed decisions for your child's academic future. With our comprehensive database, uncover the best-performing schools within each city, evaluate their performance, and gain valuable insights. Trust SchoolDigger.com to guide you in finding the perfect city for your child's education. Embark on your journey to academic success right here!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish Montana test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the test scores by the Montana Office of Public Instruction. The most recent update was on Tuesday, September 5, 2023.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

Rank (of 178)	City	# Elementary Schools	# Middle Schools	# High Schools	# Private Schools*	Rank score (2022)	Rank (2021)	Rank change from 2021
1^st	Hall	1	0	0	0	0.994	2	1
2^nd	Avon	1	0	0	0	0.991	145	143
3^rd	West Glacier	1	0	0	0	0.979	6	3
4^th	Cohagen	1	0	0	0	0.97	4
5^th	Zurich	1	0	0	0	0.96		(n/a)
6^th	Somers	0	1	0	0	0.947	19	13
7^th	Canyon Creek	1	0	0	0	0.924	14	7
8^th	Lakeside	1	0	0	0	0.9	37	29
9^th	Bozeman	15	5	2	12	0.89	8	1
10^th	Highwood	1	1	1	0	0.881	13	3
11^th	Manhattan	2	1	1	1	0.876	12	1
12^th	Cardwell	1	0	0	0	0.866	141	129
13^th	Gallatin Gateway	2	2	1	0	0.86	17	4
14^th	Moore	1	1	1	2	0.843	29	15
15^th	Gardiner	1	1	1	0	0.843	10	5
16^th	Fort Shaw	1	0	0	1	0.842	28	12
17^th	Clancy	2	2	0	0	0.834	16	1
18^th	Cascade	1	1	1	0	0.822	42	24
19^th	Broadview	1	1	1	0	0.818	20	1
20^th	Twin Bridges	1	1	1	0	0.803	21	1
21^st	Clyde Park	0	1	1	0	0.795	11	10
22^nd	Belt	2	1	1	0	0.77	33	11
23^rd	Power	2	1	1	0	0.767	22	1
24^th	Winifred	1	1	1	0	0.764	30	6
25^th	Drummond	1	1	1	0	0.762	100	75
26^th	Dillon	2	1	1	0	0.744	32	6
27^th	Missoula	13	7	3	12	0.741	53	26
28^th	Fort Benton	1	1	1	0	0.739	7	21
29^th	Jordan	2	1	1	0	0.736	27	2
30^th	Rudyard	1	1	1	0	0.735	26	4
31^st	Charlo	1	1	1	0	0.715	34	3
32^nd	Plentywood	1	1	1	0	0.709	113	81
33^rd	Kinsey	1	0	0	0	0.708	51	18
34^th	Columbus	1	1	1	0	0.703	43	9
35^th	Ennis	1	1	1	0	0.702	47	12
36^th	Belgrade	5	1	1	1	0.7	55	19
37^th	Big Timber	2	1	1	0	0.695	102	65
38^th	Whitefish	2	2	1	1	0.693	52	14
39^th	Clinton	1	1	0	0	0.69	73	34
40^th	Augusta	1	1	1	0	0.685	49	9
41^st	Kila	1	1	0	0	0.682	84	43
42^nd	Glen	1	0	0	0	0.678	14	28
43^rd	Hamilton	2	1	1	3	0.676	90	47
44^th	Fairfield	3	2	1	1	0.666	24	20
45^th	Wilsall	1	0	0	0	0.663	103	58
46^th	Red Lodge	1	1	1	0	0.661	57	11
47^th	Livingston	3	2	1	2	0.659	66	19
48^th	Boulder	1	1	1	0	0.656	92	44
49^th	Bigfork	2	2	1	0	0.653	72	23
50^th	Sheridan	1	1	1	0	0.647	45	5
51^st	Eureka	1	1	1	1	0.646	123	72
52^nd	Columbia Falls	3	2	1	1	0.643	60	8
53^rd	Lincoln	1	1	1	0	0.639	99	46
54^th	Helena	11	2	2	6	0.633	77	23
55^th	Melville	1	0	0	0	0.632	23	32
56^th	Savage	1	1	1	0	0.628	87	31
57^th	Big Sandy	2	2	1	0	0.624	75	18
58^th	Gildford	2	0	0	0	0.623	64	6
59^th	Thompson Falls	1	1	1	2	0.609	81	22
60^th	Circle	1	2	1	0	0.609	25	35
61^st	Vida	1	0	0	0	0.602	91	30
62^nd	Corvallis	1	2	1	0	0.6	40	22
63^rd	Kalispell	13	7	2	10	0.594	63
64^th	Philipsburg	1	1	1	0	0.571	97	33
65^th	Townsend	1	1	1	0	0.564	48	17
66^th	Deer Lodge	1	1	1	0	0.551	144	78
67^th	Choteau	1	1	1	0	0.55	69	2
68^th	Dayton	1	0	0	0	0.544	165	97
69^th	Bridger	1	1	1	0	0.544	74	5
70^th	Malta	1	1	1	0	0.543	80	10
71^st	Elliston	1	0	0	0	0.541	156	85
72^nd	Medicine Lake	1	1	1	0	0.538	70	2
73^rd	Forsyth	1	1	1	1	0.537	59	14
74^th	Sand Coulee	3	1	1	0	0.536	86	12
75^th	Harrison	1	1	1	0	0.535	46	29
76^th	Joliet	1	1	1	0	0.527	58	18
77^th	Frenchtown	2	1	1	0	0.524	65	12
78^th	Sidney	4	1	1	1	0.524	88	10
79^th	Fortine	1	1	0	0	0.524	118	39
80^th	Broadus	1	1	1	0	0.522	132	52
81^st	Plains	2	2	1	0	0.521	109	28
82^nd	Bainville	1	1	1	0	0.52	68	14
83^rd	Glasgow	1	2	1	0	0.518	117	34
84^th	Havre	6	1	1	1	0.516	115	31
85^th	Scobey	1	1	1	1	0.515	82	3
86^th	Butte	6	1	1	3	0.509	116	30
87^th	Froid	1	1	1	0	0.501	44	43
88^th	Shepherd	1	1	1	0	0.501	111	23
89^th	Three Forks	1	1	1	0	0.499	76	13
90^th	Libby	1	1	1	2	0.493	62	28
91^st	Turner	1	1	1	0	0.49	54	37
92^nd	Trego	1	0	0	0	0.486	136	44
93^rd	Lolo	2	2	0	0	0.485	120	27
94^th	Grass Range	2	1	1	0	0.481	148	54
95^th	Dutton	1	1	1	0	0.479	134	39
96^th	Plevna	1	1	1	0	0.477	61	35
97^th	Great Falls	17	2	3	7	0.476	104	7
98^th	Polson	3	1	1	2	0.475	151	53
99^th	Hobson	1	1	1	0	0.467	39	60
100^th	Lewistown	5	2	1	0	0.467	122	22
101^st	Baker	2	1	1	0	0.461	71	30
102^nd	Troy	3	1	1	1	0.453	130	28
103^rd	Conrad	3	2	1	0	0.446	129	26
104^th	Florence	1	1	1	0	0.445	94	10
105^th	Terry	1	1	1	0	0.439	152	47
106^th	Ulm	2	1	0	0	0.437	124	18
107^th	Pray	1	1	0	0	0.435	101	6
108^th	Ekalaka	1	1	1	0	0.43	78	30
109^th	Wibaux	1	1	1	0	0.426	96	13
110^th	Billings	34	12	4	11	0.423	108	2
111^th	Worden	1	1	1	0	0.422	138	27
112^th	Hot Springs	1	1	1	0	0.41	174	62
113^th	Lavina	1	1	1	0	0.406		(n/a)
114^th	Nashua	1	1	1	0	0.393	171	57
115^th	Seeley Lake	1	1	1	0	0.391	98	17
116^th	Bonner	2	2	0	0	0.39	112	4
117^th	Absarokee	1	1	1	0	0.384	142	25
118^th	Whitehall	1	1	1	0	0.375	83	35
119^th	Fairview	1	1	1	0	0.373	125	6
120^th	West Yellowstone	1	1	1	0	0.369	137	17
121^st	Fromberg	1	1	1	0	0.365	180	59
122^nd	Simms	0	1	1	0	0.361	126	4
123^rd	Marion	2	1	0	1	0.355	147	24
124^th	Laurel	3	1	1	0	0.355	140	16
125^th	Roundup	1	1	1	0	0.342	128	3
126^th	Trout Creek	1	1	0	1	0.341	89	37
127^th	Stevensville	2	2	1	0	0.338	93	34
128^th	Glendive	3	1	1	1	0.334	153	25
129^th	Ramsay	1	1	0	0	0.317	139	10
130^th	Miles City	7	2	2	2	0.316	133	3
131^st	Frazer	2	1	1	0	0.305	154	23
132^nd	Chinook	3	1	1	0	0.296	172	40
133^rd	White Sulphur Springs	2	2	1	0	0.295	149	16
134^th	Richey	1	1	1	0	0.286	35	99
135^th	Darby	1	1	1	0	0.283	175	40
136^th	Dixon	1	1	0	0	0.283	157	21
137^th	Superior	1	1	1	0	0.274	164	27
138^th	Stanford	2	1	1	0	0.269	79	59
139^th	Shelby	3	1	1	0	0.268	127	12
140^th	Condon	1	1	0	0	0.261	38	102
141^st	Sun River	1	0	0	0	0.252	179	38
142^nd	Anaconda	2	1	1	0	0.242	162	20
143^rd	Colstrip	1	1	1	0	0.237	159	16
144^th	Park City	1	1	1	0	0.228	158	14
145^th	St Ignatius	1	1	1	0	0.222	184	39
146^th	Cut Bank	9	1	1	0	0.221	155	9
147^th	Lambert	1	1	1	0	0.22	167	20
148^th	Valier	3	1	1	0	0.211	176	28
149^th	Bynum	1	0	0	0	0.21	191	42
150^th	Wolf Point	2	3	1	0	0.202	169	19
151^st	Custer	1	1	1	0	0.2	95	56
152^nd	Ronan	1	1	1	1	0.196	173	21
153^rd	Culbertson	1	1	1	0	0.172	161	8
154^th	Vaughn	1	1	0	0	0.17	168	14
155^th	Arlee	1	1	1	1	0.144	183	28
156^th	Pablo	1	0	1	0	0.143	185	29
157^th	Roberts	1	1	1	0	0.136	170	13
158^th	Noxon	1	1	1	0	0.11	163	5
159^th	Alberton	1	1	1	1	0.105	146	13
160^th	Hardin	2	1	1	1	0.101	188	28
161^st	E Glacier Park	1	0	0	0	0.1	187	26
162^nd	Dodson	1	1	1	0	0.095	192	30
163^rd	Hays	1	1	1	1	0.091	193	30
164^th	Victor	1	1	1	0	0.076	186	22
165^th	Box Elder	2	2	2	0	0.067	190	25
166^th	Fort Smith	1	0	0	0	0.067	150	16
167^th	Brockton	1	1	1	0	0.06	197	30
168^th	Harlem	2	1	1	1	0.055	178	10
169^th	Poplar	1	2	1	0	0.047	195	26
170^th	Wyola	1	1	0	0	0.035	198	28
171^st	Ashland	1	1	0	1	0.033	199	28
172^nd	Dupuyer	1	0	0	0	0.03	189	17
173^rd	Crow Agency	1	0	0	0	0.027	202	29
174^th	Browning	3	1	1	2	0.027	201	27
175^th	Lame Deer	1	1	1	0	0.024	196	21
176^th	Heart Butte	1	1	1	0	0.024	204	28
177^th	Lodge Grass	1	1	1	0	0.012	203	26
178^th	Pryor	1	1	1	1	0.011	194	16

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About our rankings:

* Private schools are not used in determining city rank.
Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on test scores released by the Montana Office of Public Instruction.
These rankings were last updated on September 5, 2023, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the Montana Office of Public Instruction, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the Montana Office of Public Instruction.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

State-Administered Standardized Tests: A Comprehensive Guide

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Montana Office of Public Instruction. School Attendance Areas provided by ATTOM.