Elmo, Montana.
Typical home $807,716 (+0.7% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$2,636 (+164%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $5,582 +1%
- $802,134$807,716 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $162,710 +25%
- $645,006$807,716 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.
- Elmo$4,240
- Montana$2,453
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 15 years.
Typical home values in Elmo, MT rose 0.7% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Elmo, Lake County, Montana
Elmo, in Lake County, had 244 people in the 2020 census. Unemployment in Lake County was 3.3% in August 2026, and the county had 0.8% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Lake County work in schools and health care, then shops.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Elmo is a very small community in Lake County, Montana, with far fewer people than most towns. Homes here are valued well above what the county's incomes would suggest, so buying in tends to take more than most local households earn. Winters are cold and snowy, with December the coldest month and freezing highs, while July brings warm days. Precipitation is on the light side, with snow making up a good part of it.
Work. Residents of Elmo work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by shops, restaurants, hotels and entertainment, and professional and business services. Across Lake County, the largest workplaces include Rocky Mountain Twist, a maker of drill bits and metalworking tools, St. Luke Community Hospital, and Salish Kootenai College. Unemployment across the county is lower than a year ago, though the number of jobs there slipped slightly over the past year.
Things to do. Big Arm State Park is in or beside town, a protected area on the water's edge. Lake Mary Ronan State Park, also a protected area, is a short drive away. Flathead Lake, one of the best known lakes in the region, is a longer drive away, as is Flathead National Forest for those who want more room to roam.
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What people in Lake County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Lake County had 9,694 jobs in 2025, 0.8% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 32° and lows near 21°; warmest in July, with highs near 83° and lows near 52°. About 34 inches of snow and 16 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Skq Dam weather station, 12 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Lake County
- Rocky Mountain TwistBits, drill, metalworking, manufacturing263
- St Luke Community HospitalCritical access hospital257FTE
- Salish Kootenai CollegeUniversity or college249
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters211
- Providence St Joseph Medical CTRCritical access hospital178FTE
- Ronan Elem SchoolsSchool district160FTE
- Polson Elem SchoolsSchool district150FTE
- SafewaySupermarkets and other grocery stores92
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 8 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,045 people in all across the county; Elmo has none of its own. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023), colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); 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
- Winter weatherVery high
- Cold wavesVery high
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- LandslidesRelatively moderate
- WildfireRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Elmo’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively 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 Lake County.
Elmo home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Elmo$807,716
- 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.
- Elmo12
Zip codes with a Elmo address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Elmo — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.