What Are The Top 30 Largest Cities And Towns In Montana?

It's becoming more difficult to keep up with how large Montana's cities have become, mostly because they keep growing at an impressive rate. There was a time where Montana license plate numbers would immediately let you know what county the car was from - the first number reflected the county size, in order, decades ago.

Just for the sake of nostalgia, here's that OLD ranking of county size by the license plate number. (There are 56 counties in Montana.) You'll see the old ranking number, county name, and then county seat:

1 Butte-Silver Bow, Butte
2 Cascade, Great Falls
3 Yellowstone, Billings
4 Missoula, Missoula
5 Lewis & Clark, Helena
6 Gallatin, Bozeman
7 Flathead, Kalispell
8 Fergus, Lewistown
9 Powder River, Broadus
10 Carbon, Red Lodge
11 Phillips, Malta
12 Hill, Havre
13 Ravalli, Hamilton
14 Custer, Miles City
15 Lake, Polson
16 Dawson, Glendive
17 Roosevelt, Wolf Point
18 Beaverhead, Dillon
19 Chouteau, Fort Benton
20 Valley, Glasgow
21 Toole, Shelby
22 Big Horn, Hardin
23 Musselshell, Roundup
24 Blaine, Chinook
25 Madison, Virginia City
26 Pondera, Conrad
27 Richland, Sidney
28 Powell, Deer Lodge
29 Rosebud, Forsyth
30 Anaconda-Deer Lodge, Anaconda
31 Teton, Choteau
32 Stillwater, Columbus
33 Treasure, Hysham
34 Sheridan, Plentywood
35 Sanders, Thompson Falls
36 Judith Basin, Stanford
37 Daniels, Scobey
38 Glacier, Cut Bank
39 Fallon, Baker
40 Sweet Grass, Big Timber
41 McCone, Circle
42 Carter, Ekalaka
43 Broadwater, Townsend
44 Wheatland, Harlowton
45 Prairie, Terry
46 Granite, Philipsburg
47 Meagher, White Sulphur Springs
48 Liberty, Chester
49 Park, Livingston
50 Garfield, Jordan
51 Jefferson, Boulder
52 Wibaux, Wibaux
53 Golden, Valley Ryegate
54 Mineral, Superior
55 Petroleum, Winnett
56 Lincoln, Libby

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Now, let's get to what the biggest cities and town are NOW. Even Montana residents need to look up details like this. It's not hard to guess the first three or four largest towns, but after that it gets to be a guessing game really quickly. This information is current as of late 2023, via WorldPopulationReview.com:

1. Billings 118,288
2. Missoula  76,599
3. Great Falls  60,369
4. Bozeman  57,494
5. Butte  35,249
6. Helena  34,690
7. Kalispell  29,409
8. Belgrade  13,523
9. Whitefish  9,943
10. Anaconda  9,649
11. Havre  9,226
12. Livingston  8,722
13. Miles City  8,477
14. Laurel  7,098
15. Lewistown  6,223
16. Sidney  5,938
17. Columbia Falls  5,930
18. Polson  5,637
19. Hamilton  5,382
20. Glendive  4,849
21. Dillon  4,177
22. Hardin  3,627
23. Shelby  3,216
24. Libby  3,214
25. Glasgow  3,186
26. Cut Bank  3,060
27. Deer Lodge  2,963
28. Wolf Point  2,629
29. Red Lodge  2,566
30. Conrad  2,443