Carbon County Demographics
The following demographic and statistic information was assembled from US census data and American Fact Finder 2007-2011 estimations.
Carbon County is Montana’s twentieth most populous county, with an estimated 10,078 residents of either part time or full time. Red Lodge, the county seat, is the state’s thirty-first largest city, with a population estimated at 3,580 in 2011. Other towns in Carbon County include Bearcreek, Belfry, Boyd, Bridger, Edgar, Fromberg, Joliet, Luther, Roberts, Roscoe, and Silesia. The total area of the land in Carbon County is 2,047 square miles. On average 4.7 people live within each square mile of the county. In 2011 there were 10,078 people living in the county within 4,571 households (averaging 2.32 people in each household) in comparison to the 2009 population of 9,552.
The average household income in Carbon County was $58,481 in 2011 which reflects that 46.5% of the county population have incomes above $50,000 annually with the remainder of the households earn under $49,000 a year. The area’s average Social Security income is $16,397 and the area’s average Supplemental Security Income is $8,482.
The per capita income in Carbon County is estimated to be $25,943 in 2011 which is a decrease from $35,714 in 2007. The total personal income for the county in 2007 was $347 (in millions of dollars). The median earnings for male full-time, year-round workers is $41,087 and the median earnings for female full-time, year-round workers is $28,839.
In Carbon County 11.4% of all people are in poverty with 7.8% of families earning below the federal poverty guidelines. Of the families in poverty 13.8% of those have children under the age of eighteen and 25.7% of those families include a child under the age of five years old. 4.6% of families in poverty consist of a married couple and 29.2% consist of a female head of house only. 16.2% of people under the age of eighteen in Carbon County live in poverty and 22.7% of children under the age of five live in poverty. 8.9% of people over the age of 65 live in poverty in Carbon County.
In 2011 there were about 6,441 housing units within the county, a change of about 900 from 2000. The percentage of housing units that were occupied by the owner in the last census was 71% with 29% of housing units vacant. Of the vacant units 2.2% are available for rent outside of seasonal restrictions. The median value of each house was about $202,100 in the county in 2011 which has doubled since 2000.
In 2011, Carbon County, MT jobs totaled 5,238 across all industries, a decrease from the 2007 job total of 5,767. Of this number 709 are based in agricultural, fishing, forestry or mining jobs. 475 of the jobs are construction, 337 of the jobs are in manufacturing, 456 of the jobs are in retail trade and 150 are in wholesale trade. Real estate, finance and insurance provide 319 jobs. Professional, scientific and administrative services provide 355 jobs. Education, health care and social assistance provide 1,044 jobs in Carbon County. Arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation and food services provide 589 jobs. Other services, except public administration provide 172 jobs and public administration provides 262 jobs.
The amount of land in Carbon County devoted to farming was 793,628 acres in 2007.
In 2011 2.8% of residents spoke a language other than English at home. The percent of the county’s population who were born in a foreign country was 2.4%. Of those of foreign birth 38.8% are naturalized U.S. Citizens and 61.3% are not U.S. citizens.
The percentage of adults in Carbon County over the age of twenty-five who graduated high school as of 2011 was 33.6%. About 21.8% of county residents held at least a four-year college degree.
The estimated breakdown of population by age in 2011 included 410 residents less than five years old, (4.1% of residents),2,162 less than eighteen years old (21.5% of residents), and 1,895 of the population of Carbon County was over the age of sixty-five (18.8% of residents).
The percentage of the population who were female in 2009 was 49.3%. The population classified as white was 9,793 (97.2%), black: 33 (0.3%), Asian: 22 (0.2%), Native American: 84 (0.8%), Hispanic or Latino: 188 (1.9%), two or more races: 101 (1.0%).
Carbon County Poverty Information
Montana State Poverty Report Card: http://www.montana.edu/extensionecon/poverty.html
Carbon County 2011 Poverty Report from MSU: http://www.montana.edu/extensionecon/countydata/Carbon.pdf
2011 Human Resource Development Council Needs Assessment: http://www.hrdc7.org/sites/default/files/file/Needs%20Assessment%202011%281%29.pdf
