Lincoln County, Montana


Lincoln County is a county located in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,677. Its county seat is Libby. The county was founded in 1909 and named for President Abraham Lincoln. The county lies on Montana's north border and thus shares the US-Canadian border with the Canadian province of British Columbia.
This heavily wooded and mountainous county once was part of Flathead County until residents of Libby and Eureka petitioned the state legislature for separation. Libby won an election over Eureka to host the county seat.
WWW lincolncountymt.us

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water. The county borders the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north. The lowest point in the state of Montana is located on the Kootenai River in Lincoln County, where it flows out of Montana and into Idaho. Upstream, Libby Dam backs up huge Lake Koocanusa into Canada's British Columbia.

Adjacent counties and county-equivalents

National protected areas

Economics

Top employers

In 2003, the top employers are listed in the table below.
#Employer# of Employees
1Kootenai National Forest276
2Libby Public School District203
3St John's Lutheran Hospital182
4Lincoln County Government135
5Owens & Hurst Lumber120

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 19,677. Of the residents, 18.5% were under the age of 18 and 30.3% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 54.0 years. For every 100 females there were 101.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 100.5 males. 22.1% of residents lived in urban areas and 77.9% lived in rural areas.
The racial makeup of the county was 91.2% White, 0.2% Black or African American, 1.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% Asian, 0.9% from some other race, and 5.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 2.9% of the population.
There were 8,886 households in the county, of which 20.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 22.5% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 32.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 10,953 housing units, of which 18.9% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 78.1% were owner-occupied and 21.9% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.5% and the rental vacancy rate was 6.9%.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 19,687 people, 8,843 households, and 5,608 families living in the county. The population density was. There were 11,413 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 95.9% white, 0.9% American Indian, 0.3% Asian, 0.1% black or African American, 0.4% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 2.3% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 31.5% were German, 15.7% were Irish, 15.3% were English, 10.2% were Norwegian, and 3.3% were American.
Of the 8,843 households, 23.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% were married couples living together, 7.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.6% were non-families, and 30.6% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.72. The median age was 48.9 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $30,823 and the median income for a family was $39,600. Males had a median income of $40,944 versus $24,965 for females. The per capita income for the county was $19,626. About 13.7% of families and 18.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.2% of those under age 18 and 12.1% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

Towns

Census-designated places

Other unincorporated communities

  • Dodge Summit
  • Jennings
  • Kootenai Falls
  • Roosville
  • Tobacco
  • Yarnell

Politics

For its first eighty years, Lincoln County was a Democratic-leaning area that would vote Republican only during large GOP landslides. Only four Republicans were to win the county in the seventeen Presidential elections between its inaugural election in 1912 and 1976. However, like many timber-dependent counties, it has become overwhelmingly Republican since that time. The last Democrat to carry Lincoln County was Michael Dukakis during the drought-influenced 1988 election. Since then, no Democrat has reached 35 percent of the county's vote.