ZIP code 59844

ZIP 59844 is a very small community in Sanders County, Montana, with 662 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #158 of 369 ranked by population — larger than 57% of them. The median age here is 56.5 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 59844 earn a median of $40,000 a year, 49.1% below the national figure of $78,538. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 39.8% of residents here, well above the 12.4% national rate, which is the single clearest signal in this dataset that median income here is carried by a narrow band of households.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 59844 is valued at $430,400, 41.9% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,073 a month, 23.7% below the national figure, or roughly $12,876 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 32.2% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is a stretch on median earnings. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 10.8×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 75.8% 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.

Home values sit at 10.8× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere. A median age of 56.5 puts ZIP 59844 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.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. 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 59844 is tabulated inside Sanders County, Montana, one of 9 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 369 across Montana. Fewer than 2,500 people are counted here, so the ZIP behaves like a village delivery route rather than a neighbourhood. 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 59844 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 59844 reports a median household income of $40,000, 18% below the $48,840 county median, and 38% below the $64,375 typical MT ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $430,400, 7% above the county figure and 61% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,073 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 59844 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 59844 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.