ZIP code 59261

ZIP 59261 is a very small community in Phillips County, Montana, with 496 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #185 of 369 ranked by population — larger than 50% of them. The median age here is 55.1 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in ZIP 59261 earn a median of $65,833 a year, 16.2% below the national figure of $78,538. This figure covers the household, not the worker: two people on ordinary wages at one address outrank a single professional in the same table. Poverty reaches 13.1% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 59261 is valued at $163,900, 46% below the national figure, while median gross rent runs $554 a month, 60.6% below the national figure, or roughly $6,648 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 10.1% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 2.5×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 79.1% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

A median age of 55.1 puts ZIP 59261 well into retirement-weighted territory, which pulls median household income down even where household wealth is high, because retirement draws are counted differently from wages. With 496 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare ZIP 59261 against its county rather than against national figures.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.

ZIP 59261 is tabulated inside Phillips County, Montana, one of 6 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 369 across Montana. This is one of the smallest tabulated ZIP areas in the state, the kind of rural route where a single subdivision or farm cluster accounts for most addresses. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 59261 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 59261 reports a median household income of $65,833, 15% above the $57,441 county median, and close to the $64,375 typical MT ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $163,900, 3% below the county figure and 39% below the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $554 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

Montana charges 0% statewide, and local governments overlapping 59261 may add county, city or special-district levies on top. We publish the state floor for this ZIP rather than guessing a combined figure, because ZIP boundaries and taxing-district boundaries were drawn for different purposes and do not line up.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 59261 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.