Montana’s population growth rate has declined from the rapid-fire increases of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, though certain communities, including East Helena and Kalispell, remain hot spots.
Kalispell retained its title as the state’s fastest-growing city, with the Census Bureau estimating it added over 1,100 residents from 2023 to 2024 — a nearly 4% population increase, the Montana Free Press reports.
The much-smaller East Helena saw an estimated increase of 110 residents, pushing its growth rate above 5%.
Bozeman, in contrast, was long Montana’s fastest-growing city, but has seen its growth rates decline in recent years. While it was pegged at a nearly 3% growth rate between 2020 and 2021, for example, it added fewer than 800 people between 2023 and 2024, a 1.4% growth rate.
Adjacent to Bozeman, Belgrade has seen an even bigger drop, from 8.1% growth in 2021 to 2.3% this year, or an estimated net increase of about 280 residents.
Great Falls has been the only large Montana city to consistently lose population since the 2020 census. Its population declined by 230 people from 2023 to 2024, a relatively small figure compared to its overall population.
Butte-Silver Bow also posted a small population decline the same period.
Montana’s other cities with over 20,000 residents also saw modest population growth, with Billings adding 686 residents, Missoula 557 and Helena 360.
Migration has been the primary driver of Montana’s population growth in recent years.
Between 2020 and 2023, the state had 51,000 more people move in than moved away, according to the Census Bureau’s estimates, but the increase was somewhat offset by there being more deaths, 38,942, than births, 36,078, over that timeframe.
The census indicates the state saw 12 more births than deaths between 2023 and 2024, the first time that figure has been positive since the 2019 statistics.
Migration added 6,000 residents to Montana in 2024, the Census Bureau estimates, with the vast majority of that migration coming from other states, as opposed to from people born outside the U.S.
These population figures are interim estimates produced by the Census Bureau to fill in the gaps between the full count of the U.S. population it conducts each decade.
The population counts for each year represent the population estimated as of July 1, meaning the 2024 change estimates represent change between July 1, 2023, and July 1, 2024.
This story was originally published by Montana Free Press at montanafreepress.org.
