Shelby, Montana.
Typical home $178,373 (+2.2% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$510 (+120%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $3,796 +2%
- $174,577$178,373 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $54,559 +44%
- $123,813$178,373 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.
- Shelby$936
- Montana$2,453
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 9 years.
Typical home values in Shelby, MT rose 2.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Shelby, Toole County, Montana
Shelby is a city of 3,169 people in Toole County. Half its households earn more than $58,413 a year and half less, against $57,731 across Toole County; 14% of its people live below the poverty line. 61% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 39% are rented. Unemployment in Toole County was 2.4% in August 2026, and the county had 2.0% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then government.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Shelby is a small city and the seat of Toole County, in the north of Montana. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and household incomes run a little above the county's. Winters are long and cold, with a good deal of snow, and summers are warm but never extreme. Rain and melted snow add up to a fairly dry year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with government, restaurants and hotels, and banks and insurance also employing people. Among the largest workplaces in Shelby are Logan Health Shelby, the critical access hospital, along with Shelby Elem Schools and Albertsons. The trip to work is short, and the county's jobs have slipped a little over the past year while unemployment has stayed low.
Things to do. For time outdoors, Two Medicine River and Birch Creek are rivers a longer drive away, and Lake Frances, a reservoir, and Lake Cut Bank are also a longer drive from town. These are places for a day out on the water or along the banks rather than a quick stop.
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- 1,183households
- 20%of adults have a degree
- 14%below the poverty line
- 14 mintypical commute
- 7%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Toole County had 1,758 jobs in 2025, 2.0% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 31° and lows near 6°; warmest in July, with highs near 82° and lows near 52°. About 39 inches of snow and 12 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Shelby weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Shelby
- Logan Health ShelbyCritical access hospital75FTE
- Shelby Elem SchoolsSchool district59FTE
- AlbertsonsSupermarkets and other grocery stores37
- Logan Health - Shelby Care CenterHomes for the elderly with nursing care24
- Shelby H S SchoolsSchool district24FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 147 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) 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
- Cold wavesVery high
- Winter weatherVery high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively moderate
- WildfireRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Shelby’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 Toole County.
Shelby home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Shelby$178,373
- Montana$467,275
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 8 Shelby listings — the market is roughly in balance.
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
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Shelby12.34%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Shelby30
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Shelby5
Zip codes with a Shelby address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Shelby — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.