What is the population of Great Falls, Montana?

Great Falls has a population of approximately 60,329 according to the latest available open data.

Where is Great Falls, Montana located?

Great Falls is located in Montana, United States, at approximate coordinates 47.5025°, -111.3000°.

What is the median household income in Great Falls?

The median household income in Great Falls is approximately $63,373 based on the most recent open data.

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Great Falls

Montanacity

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Great Falls

Total population

60,329

Median home value

$257,000

27.8%

Bachelor's+

Median income

$63,373

Great Falls$63k

National$74k

Founded

1883

Elevation1015 m

Land area57.65 km²

Weather46°F · Mostly Clear

Coordinates47.50°, -111.30°

Demographic figures from US Census Bureau · ACS 5-year estimates. Overview below cites Wikipedia and may reference a different year.

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City facts

Founded

1883

Elevation

1015 m

Area

57.65 km²

head of government

Bob Kelly

Official website

www.greatfallsmt.net

Facts from Wikidata (CC0).

Overview

Great Falls is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 census. The city covers an area of 22.9 square miles (59 km2) and is the principal city of the Great Falls, Montana, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cascade County. The Great Falls MSA's population was 84,414 according to the 2020 census.

History & geography

History

For much of prehistory, no permanent settlements existed at or near Great Falls, though Salish Indians seasonally hunted bison in the region. Around 1600, Piegan Blackfeet Indians, migrating west, entered the area, pushing the Salish back into the Rocky Mountains and claiming the area now occupied by Great Falls. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the Lewis and Clark Expedition into the newly purchased territory from 1804 to 1806. The expedition came upon the "Great Falls of the Missouri River" on June 13, 1805. Politically, the future site of Great Falls passed through numerous hands in the 19th century. It was part of the unincorporated frontier until May 30, 1854, when Congress established the Nebraska Territory. On March 2, 1861, the site became part of the Dakota Territory. The Great Falls area was incorporated into the Idaho Territory on March 4, 1863, and then into the Montana Territory on May 28, 1864. He returned in 1883 with friend Robert Vaughn and some surveyors and platted a permanent settlement on the south side of the river. A planing mill, lumber yard, bank, school, and newspaper were established in 1885. In 1894, naturalist Vernon Bailey passed through and described Great Falls as "a very good town, appears prosperous and booming & I should judge contains 15000 inhabitants". By the early 1900s, Great Falls was en route to becoming one of Montana's largest cities. The rustic studio of famed Western artist Charles Marion Russell was a popular attraction, as were the famed Great Falls of the Missouri. Among structures built in the early years were the sandstone Central High School (completed in 1896), now the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art; the ornate copper-domed Cascade County Courthouse (1903); and railroad passenger depots of the Great…

Geography

Great Falls is located near several waterfalls on the Missouri River. It lies near the center of Montana on the northern Great Plains. It lies next to the Rocky Mountain Front and is approximately south of the Canada–US border. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. The city of Great Falls lies atop the Great Falls Tectonic Zone, an intracontinental shear zone between two geologic provinces of basement rock of the Archean period which form part of the North American continent. The city lies at the southern reach of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, a vast glacial sheet of ice which covered much of North America during the last glacial period. Approximately 1.5 million years ago, the Missouri River flowed northward into a terminal lake. The Laurentide Ice Sheet pushed the river southward. Between 15,000 BCE and 11,000 BCE, the Laurentide Ice Sheet blocked the Missouri River and created Glacial Lake Great Falls. About 13,000 BCE, as the glacier retreated, Glacial Lake Great Falls emptied catastrophically in a glacial lake outburst flood. The Missouri River flowed eastward around the glacial mass, settling into its present course. Great Falls has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSk), with a notable amount of summer precipitation occurring in the form of thunderstorms. Winters are very cold, long and often snowy, though periods of chinook winds do cause warm spells and raise the maximum temperature above on an average of fifteen afternoons during the three-month winter period. In the absence of such winds, shallow cold snaps are common; there is an average of 20.8 nights with a low of or colder and 44 days failing to top freezing. The wettest part of the year is the spring. Summers are hot and dry,…

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