{"id":5808,"date":"2023-07-15T20:25:20","date_gmt":"2023-07-15T20:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=5808"},"modified":"2026-08-21T16:17:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T16:17:32","slug":"hill-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/hill-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Hill County, Montana"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hill County is a county in Montana, United States, on the Hi-Line along the Canadian border. It had a population of 16,309 at the 2020 census and covers 2,916 square miles (7,550 km2) centred near 48&deg;38&prime;N 110&deg;07&prime;W.<\/p>\n<p>Havre is the county seat and its postal code is 59501. The county has one incorporated city, one incorporated town, and roughly twenty unincorporated communities and census-designated places. Hill County observes Mountain Time.<\/p>\n<h2>Towns &amp; Villages in Hill County<\/h2>\n<p>Havre, the seat and largest place, anchors the county&#8217;s northern half; the rest of Hill County is open Hi-Line farm and ranch country dotted with rail-siding hamlets and Hutterite colonies. Only Havre and Hingham are incorporated &mdash; everything else below is an unincorporated community or census-designated place (CDP).<\/p>\n<div class=\"tv-table-scroll\">\n<table>\n<tr>\n<th>Place<\/th>\n<th>Type<\/th>\n<th>Pop.<\/th>\n<th>ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Havre<\/td>\n<td>City &middot; seat<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>59501<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Hingham<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>59528<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Rudyard<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>59540<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Kremlin<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>59559<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Gildford<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>59525<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Gildford Colony<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Inverness<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>59530<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Box Elder<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>59521<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Rocky Boy&#8217;s Agency<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Rocky Boy West<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Havre North<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>West Havre<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Fresno<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Beaver Creek<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Simpson<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Sangrey<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Saint Pierre<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Saddle Butte<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Herron<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Goldstone<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Azure<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>East End Colony<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Hilldale Colony<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Parker School<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Rocky Boy&#8217;s Agency, on the Rocky Boy&#8217;s Indian Reservation held by the federally recognised Chippewa Cree Tribe, is administered separately from Havre&#8217;s other CDPs though it shares Hill County&#8217;s northern boundary with the reservation. Several of the county&#8217;s smaller listings &mdash; the old scrape&#8217;s &#8220;trailer court&#8221; entries &mdash; are informal mobile-home parks rather than census places and are omitted here.<\/p>\n<h2>ZIP Codes<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>59501 &mdash; Havre (also serves West Havre and Havre North)<\/li>\n<li>59521 &mdash; Box Elder<\/li>\n<li>59525 &mdash; Gildford<\/li>\n<li>59528 &mdash; Hingham<\/li>\n<li>59530 &mdash; Inverness<\/li>\n<li>59540 &mdash; Rudyard<\/li>\n<li>59559 &mdash; Kremlin<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Smaller unincorporated places such as Fresno, Beaver Creek and Simpson share a ZIP code with the nearest post-office town rather than having their own.<\/p>\n<h2>Geography<\/h2>\n<p>Hill County sits on Montana&#8217;s Hi-Line, the open wheat and cattle country that runs along U.S. Route 2 near the Canadian border. The terrain is rolling shortgrass prairie broken by the Bear Paw Mountains&#8217; northern foothills and the Milk River valley; of the county&#8217;s 2,916 square miles, 2,899 are land and 17 are water. The Rocky Boy&#8217;s Indian Reservation occupies part of the county&#8217;s southern reach.<\/p>\n<p>Hill County borders <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/blaine-county-montana\/\">Blaine County<\/a> to the east, <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/liberty-county-montana\/\">Liberty County<\/a> to the west, and <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/chouteau-county\/\">Chouteau County<\/a> to the south, with the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan across the international line to the north.<\/p>\n<h2>Demographics<\/h2>\n<p>Hill County&#8217;s population was 16,309 at the 2020 census, the great majority concentrated in Havre and its immediate CDPs; Hingham is the county&#8217;s second incorporated place but is far smaller. About 23 percent of residents identify as American Indian or Alaska Native, reflecting the Rocky Boy&#8217;s Reservation community, against roughly 69 percent White. Median household income runs below the Montana median of $70,804, typical of the Hi-Line&#8217;s agricultural counties. Population density is about 5.6 people per square mile.<\/p>\n<h2>Economy &amp; Local Life<\/h2>\n<p>Wheat and cattle ranching drive the county&#8217;s rural economy, alongside the BNSF Railway&#8217;s Hi-Line mainline through Havre, historically a major division point. Montana State University-Northern, a public university, is based in Havre and is the county&#8217;s largest non-agricultural employer alongside the Northern Montana Hospital. The Rocky Boy&#8217;s Reservation supports its own tribal government and college, Stone Child College.<\/p>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p>Hill County was organized in 1912, carved from Chouteau County and named for James J. Hill, the Great Northern Railway president whose line built Havre into a division-point town in the 1880s and 90s. The Rocky Boy&#8217;s Reservation was established in 1916 for the Chippewa Cree, one of the last reservations created in the United States. Havre&#8217;s downtown grew around the railroad and later became known for the underground &#8220;Havre Beneath the Streets&#8221; tourist tunnels used during Prohibition.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting There<\/h2>\n<p>U.S. Route 2 runs east-west through Havre along the Hi-Line, and Montana Highway 234 runs south toward the Bear Paw Mountains.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Great Falls &mdash; 110 miles south<\/li>\n<li>Glasgow &mdash; 115 miles east<\/li>\n<li>Shelby &mdash; 85 miles west<\/li>\n<li>Lethbridge, Alberta &mdash; 110 miles north<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Havre City-County Airport offers limited commercial service; most travellers connect through Great Falls International Airport.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Where is Hill County, Montana?<\/strong><br \/>It is on Montana&#8217;s Hi-Line in the north-central part of the state, directly on the Canadian border.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the population of Hill County?<\/strong><br \/>16,309 residents at the 2020 census.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How big is Hill County?<\/strong><br \/>2,916 square miles (7,550 km2), of which 17 square miles is water.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the county seat of Hill County?<\/strong><br \/>Havre, also the county&#8217;s largest city.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many towns are in Hill County?<\/strong><br \/>One incorporated city (Havre), one incorporated town (Hingham), and about twenty unincorporated communities and CDPs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What ZIP codes are in Hill County?<\/strong><br \/>Havre uses 59501; other towns include Box Elder (59521), Gildford (59525), Hingham (59528), Inverness (59530), Rudyard (59540) and Kremlin (59559).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is the Rocky Boy&#8217;s Reservation in Hill County?<\/strong><br \/>Part of it is &mdash; the Chippewa Cree Tribe&#8217;s Rocky Boy&#8217;s Reservation extends into southern Hill County.<\/p>\n<p>More counties in this state: <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/category\/montana\/\">Towns and villages in Montana<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hill County is a county in Montana, United States, on the Hi-Line along the Canadian border. It had a population of 16,309 at the 2020 census and covers 2,916 square miles (7,550 km2) centred near 48&deg;38&prime;N 110&deg;07&prime;W. Havre is the county seat and its postal code is 59501. The county has one incorporated city, one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Towns & Villages in Hill County, Montana","_seopress_titles_desc":"Hill County, Montana: population, ZIP codes, Havre and Hingham, Rocky Boy's Reservation, geography, history and every town and CDP.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-5808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-montana","tag-towns-and-cities","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5808"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11218,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5808\/revisions\/11218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}