Big Sandy, Montana.
Typical home $260,239 (+13.2% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$936 (+218%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $30,443 +13%
- $229,796$260,239 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $88,893 +52%
- $171,347$260,239 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Big Sandy$1,366
- Montana$2,453
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 8 years.
Typical home values in Big Sandy, MT rose 13.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Big Sandy, Chouteau County, Montana
Big Sandy is a town of 605 people in Chouteau County. Unemployment in Chouteau County was 2.8% in August 2026, and the county had 0.6% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Chouteau County work in farming, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Big Sandy is a very small town in Chouteau County, Montana, where neighbors tend to know one another. The people who live here are older than in most places, and fewer adults hold a four-year degree than in much of the country. Winters are cold and summers are warm, with little rain or snow across the year.
Work. Many residents work in farming, in schools and hospitals, in government, or in local shops. Across Chouteau County, the largest workplaces include IND Hemp, the Fort Benton Elem Schools district and Big Sandy Medical Center. The commute is short for most people, and jobs across the county have slipped slightly from a year earlier, while unemployment has stayed low.
Things to do. For time outdoors, the Marias River and the Teton River are both a longer drive away, and both are rivers suited to a day by the water. Bear Paw Ski Bowl, also a longer drive away, is a ski area for winter days.
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- 259households
- 17%of adults have a degree
- 8%below the poverty line
- 16 mintypical commute
What people in Chouteau County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Chouteau County had 1,230 jobs in 2025, 0.6% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 31° and lows near 10°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 55°. About 13 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Big Sandy weather station, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Chouteau County
- IND HempDecorticating flax56
- Fort Benton Elem SchoolsSchool district45FTE
- Big Sandy Medical CenterCritical access hospital41FTE
- Big Sandy ActivitiesRehabilitation job counseling and training, vocational38
- Big Sandy K-12 SchoolsSchool district36FTE
- BmrmcCritical access hospital25FTE
- Highwood K-12 SchoolsSchool district24FTE
- CHSFarm supplies merchant wholesalers20
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 114 people in all across the county; Big Sandy has two of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Cold wavesVery high
- Winter weatherVery high
- LightningVery high
- Inland floodingVery high
- WildfireRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Big Sandy’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Chouteau County.
Big Sandy home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Big Sandy$260,239
- Montana$467,275
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Big Sandy6
Zip codes with a Big Sandy address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Big Sandy — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.