Ravalli County, Montana

Ravalli County is a county in Montana, United States, in the Bitterroot Valley about 45 miles
south of Missoula. It had a population of 44,174 at the 2020 census, an estimated 48,582 by 2025,
and covers 2,391 square miles (6,190 km2) of land centred near 46°05′N 114°07′W.

Hamilton is the county seat and the county’s only incorporated city; its postal code is 59840.
The county holds 1 city, 3 incorporated towns and 6 census-designated places, and it runs
on Mountain Time. Its FIPS code is 30081.

Towns & Villages in Ravalli County

Ravalli County has 10 named places on record: 4 incorporated cities and towns and 6 census
designated places (CDPs) with no local government of their own. Together they hold about a
quarter of the county’s population; the rest lives on unincorporated ranch and forest land
outside any place boundary.

The county’s older place list included dozens of mobile home parks and platted subdivisions
— Apple Blossom Court, Bitterroot Pines, Leisure Village, Ponderosa MH Park and similar names
among them — none of which the Census Bureau recognizes as incorporated places or CDPs. They
are addresses within the places above or in unincorporated county territory, not separate towns,
so they are left off this list. Grantsdale, a 19th-century townsite Marcus Daly considered for his
smelter operation before choosing Hamilton, is now an unincorporated crossroads inside Hamilton’s
mailing area rather than a place of its own.

ZIP Codes

• 59840 — Hamilton (also serves Charlos Heights)
• 59870 — Stevensville
• 59828 — Corvallis
• 59833 — Florence
• 59875 — Victor
• 59829 — Darby
• 59841 — Pinesdale
• 59827 — Conner
• 59871 — Sula

Charlos Heights has no ZIP of its own; mail there is delivered under Hamilton’s 59840
code.

Geography

Ravalli County occupies the Bitterroot Valley, a north-south trench bounded on the east by the
Sapphire Mountains and on the west by the Bitterroot Mountains and the Bitterroot National Forest.
About 70 percent of that 1.6-million-acre national forest lies inside the county, and its western
half backs onto the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, where no roads, logging or motorized access are
allowed. The Bitterroot River runs the length of the valley floor, formed by the East Fork and
West Fork forks that join near Conner, and drains north into the Clark Fork at Missoula.

Missoula County lies to the north, Granite County to the northeast, Deer Lodge County to the
east, Beaverhead County to the southeast, and Idaho County and Lemhi County, both in Idaho, to the
south and west across the Bitterroot Mountains. Missoula County, Granite County, Deer Lodge County, Beaverhead County, Idaho County and Lemhi County all border Ravalli directly.

Demographics

Ravalli County had a population of 44,174 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the
county near 48,582 residents. Hamilton and Stevensville are the two largest communities, but most
residents live outside any incorporated place, on ranch, timber and subdivided land along the
valley floor. Median household income runs $71,283, slightly above Montana’s 2023 ACS
statewide figure of $70,804. Population density works out to roughly 18 people per square mile of
land, low even by Montana standards, reflecting how much of the county is national forest and
wilderness.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 2,805 people,
followed by retail trade at 2,747 and construction at 2,419. Bitterroot Health-Daly Hospital,
descended from the Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital that copper magnate Marcus Daly’s estate
endowed in 1929, is Hamilton’s largest employer in that sector. Agriculture and timber have
formed the traditional base of the county’s economy since Daly’s Bitterroot Stock Farm
era, and tourism has grown alongside them, drawing on the Bitterroot National Forest, the Selway-
Bitterroot Wilderness and the Lost Trail Powder Mountain ski area near the Idaho line, which gets
about 300 inches of snow a year and runs without snowmaking or lights. Hamilton holds Daly Days
each year, a community celebration of Marcus Daly’s legacy centred on the Daly Mansion, his
restored 1910 summer estate on the edge of town.

History

The Bitterroot Salish lived in the valley long before Jesuit missionaries founded St. Mary’s
Mission at what is now Stevensville in 1841, the first permanent non-Indigenous settlement in
Montana. Major John Owen bought the mission in 1850 and turned it into Fort Owen, a trading post
that anchored the valley’s early ranching and irrigated farming. In 1877, Chief Joseph’s
Nez Perce band passed through the valley during their retreat toward Canada. The Salish were
removed to the Flathead Reservation in 1891 under the Hellgate Treaty. Montana’s territorial
legislature had already organized Ravalli County out of Missoula County on 3 March 1893, naming it
for Father Anthony Ravalli, the Italian Jesuit priest who served the Bitterroot Salish from 1845
until his death in 1884. Copper magnate Marcus Daly founded Hamilton on his Bitterroot Stock Farm
land in the late 1880s and built it into the county seat.

Getting There

US Route 93 runs the length of the county through Darby, Hamilton, Stevensville and Florence,
climbing south out of the valley over Lost Trail Pass into Idaho. State Route 38, the Skalkaho
Highway, crosses the Sapphire Mountains east from Hamilton toward Philipsburg. No interstate
highway crosses the county.

• Missoula — about 45 miles north
• Anaconda — about 45 miles east
• Salmon, Idaho — about 90 miles south
• Butte — about 75 miles southeast

Missoula Montana Airport, the nearest major commercial airport, sits about 45 miles north of
Hamilton. Ravalli County Airport, on Hamilton’s north side, handles general aviation only.
Amtrak’s Empire Builder does not reach the Bitterroot Valley; the nearest station is at
Whitefish, well over 100 miles to the north.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Ravalli County located?
It sits in the Bitterroot Valley in southwestern Montana, about 45 miles south of Missoula,
bordered by Missoula, Granite, Deer Lodge and Beaverhead counties and by Idaho and Lemhi counties
in Idaho.

What is the population of Ravalli County?
44,174 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 48,582.

How big is Ravalli County?
2,391 square miles (6,190 km2) of land, plus 9.4 square miles of water — 2,400 square miles
in total.

What is the county seat of Ravalli County?
Hamilton, founded by Marcus Daly in the late 1880s, is the county seat and the county’s only
incorporated city.

How many towns are in Ravalli County?
One city (Hamilton) and three incorporated towns — Darby, Pinesdale and Stevensville —
plus six census-designated places: Corvallis, Florence, Victor, Conner, Charlos Heights and
Sula.

What ZIP codes does Ravalli County use?
59840 for Hamilton and Charlos Heights, 59870 for Stevensville, 59828 for Corvallis, 59833 for
Florence, 59875 for Victor, 59829 for Darby, 59841 for Pinesdale, 59827 for Conner and 59871 for
Sula.

What is Ravalli County known for?
The Bitterroot Valley’s ranching and orchard history, Marcus Daly’s Daly Mansion near
Hamilton, and access to the Bitterroot National Forest and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Montana.