What Is the Elevation of Montana’s Biggest Cities?

I think Montanans like to boast a bit, and one of those weird facts that Montanans will throw out is the elevation of the city they live in. Elevation is like a sign of fitness--if you live in a town that is futher from sea level, it implies you can survive harsh conditions. To some degree that may be true, but I think it's more true of say, the people in Tibet who live at an elevation of 17,500 feet, according to National Geographic. 

Nonetheless, elevation is something that Montanans will "hang over each other" so to speak. So when I looked up the elevations of our major cities I was a little surprised to see how similar Billings and Missoula are, for example, or how much higher Butte is than the rest of us (another reason why Butte is #1).

Average Elevations

With Statista.com measuring the average US elevation at 2,500 feet, the "higher altitude benefits" of living in Montana might not just be in your imagination. But if you think that Montana has a higher average elevation than a lot of places you might be surprised to know that these seven states actually have higher average elevation, according to Statista.com: 

• Arizona
• Idaho
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• Utah
• Wyoming
• Colorado

I thought Montana would have had Idaho beat for sure, and Arizona, too.

Check out the elevation of Montana's biggest cities, and the mountain ranges they're closest to.

Billings's Elevation 3,124 ft

Closest mountain ranges: Beartooth Mountains, Pryor Mountain, Big Horn Mountains, Crazy Mountains, Bull Mountains,

Missoula's Elevation 3,209 ft

Closest mountain ranges: Bitterroot Mountains, Sapphire Mountains

Great Falls's Elevation 3,330 ft

Closest mountain ranges: Adel Mountains, Big Belt Mountains, Little Belt Mountains

Bozeman's Elevation 4,817 ft

Closest mountain ranges: Madison Range, Gallatin Range, Absaroka Range

Butte's Elevation 5,538 ft

Closest mountain ranges: Highland Mountains, East Pioneer Mountains

Helena's Elevation 3,875 ft

Closest mountain ranges: Elkhorn Mountains, Boulder Mountains

Kalispell's Elevation 2,956 ft

Closest mountain ranges: Swan Mountain, Mission Mountains, Salish Mountains