ZIP code 59911

ZIP 59911 is a mid-size town in Lake County, Montana, with 9,316 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #30 of 369 ranked by population — larger than 92% of them. The median age here is 54.3 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in ZIP 59911 earn a median of $81,846 a year, 4.2% above 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 6.6% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 59911 is valued at $608,000, 100.4% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,158 a month, 17.6% below the national figure, or roughly $13,896 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 17% 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 7.4×, 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. 85% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, an owner-dominated market where rental listings are scarce and rent medians rest on a thin sample. 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 7.4× 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 54.3 puts ZIP 59911 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.

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 59911 is tabulated inside Lake County, Montana, one of 12 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 369 across Montana. Population sits in the small-town band, typically one main street plus the addresses that feed into it. 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 59911 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 59911 reports a median household income of $81,846, 31% above the $62,500 county median, and 27% above the $64,375 typical MT ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $608,000, 71% above the county figure and 127% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,158 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 59911 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 59911 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.