ZIP Code 59801

Missoula was founded in 1860 as Hellgate Trading Post while still part of Washington Territory. Located at the confluence of five mountain valleys, the Missoula Valley was heavily traversed by local and distant native tribes that periodically went to the Eastern Montana plains in search of bison. Notable residents include the first woman to serve in the U.S. Congress, Jeannette Rankin. The city is governed by a mayorcouncil government with 12 city council members, two from each of the six wards. It is home to both of Montana's largest and its oldest active breweries, as well as the Montana Grizzlies. The 2020 United States Census shows the city's population at 73,489 and the population of the Missoulsa Metropolitan Area at 117,922. After Billings, MissoulA is the second-largest city and metropolitan area in Montana. The University of Montana, a public research university, is based in Missoul a. It was founded by the Montana Legislature in 1893 as the site for the state's first university. In and around the city are 400 acres (160 ha) of parkland, 22 miles (35 km) of trails, and nearly 5,000 acres (2,000ha) of open-space conservation land, with adjacent Mount Jumbo being home to grazing elk and mule deer during the winter. The Lewis and Clark Expedition brought the first U.S. citizens to the area. They camped there the first time on their westbound trip in September 1805.

History

The Lewis and Clark Expedition brought the first U.S. citizens to the area in 1805. The need for lumber for the railway and its bridges spurred the opening of multiple saw mills in the area. The name "Missoula" came from the Salish name for the Clark Fork River, nmesuletkw, which roughly translates as "place of frozen water" In 1893, Missoula was chosen as the location for the first state university, the University of Montana. The city is home to the smokejumpers' headquarters and will be the site of the National Museum of Forest Service History. As of 2009, education and healthcare were MissoulA's leading industries. St. Patrick Hospital and Health Sciences Center, founded in 1873, is the region's only Level II trauma center and has undergone three major expansions since the 1980s. Montana grew 50% built or renovated from 1990-2010 to 2010, and Missoulan is expected to be the main engines of future growth in the state. The U.N. Forest Service is headquartered in Missoul a. Missouli is the home of the Montana State Forest Service, which was established in 1905. The state's first state hospital was founded in 1893 and is the only Level I trauma center in the region. The Missoulian is a member of the American College of Surgeons, a professional organization that provides health care services to students and their families. The university was founded as a non-profit in 1903 and has since grown into a major employer.

Geography

Missoula is located at the western edge of Montana, approximately 45 miles (70 km) from the Idaho border. The city sits at the convergence of five mountain ranges: the Bitterroot Mountains, Sapphire Range, Garnet Range, Rattlesnake Mountains, and the Reservation Divide. Around 13,000 years ago, the entire valley was at the bottom of Glacial Lake Missoula, which once had a depth of 950 feet (290 m) The city has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb), with cold and moderately snowy winters, hot and dry summers, and short, crisp springs and autumns. It is home to white-tailed deer, moose, grizzly bears, black bears, osprey, and bald eagles, as well as native plants such as Douglas hawthorn, chokecherry, and western snowberries. Controversially, the Norway maples that line many of MissoulA's older streets have also been declared an invasive species. The town is also home to several noxious weeds, which multiple programs have set out to eliminate, including Dalmatian toadflax, spotted knapweed, leafy spurge, St. John's wort, and sulfur cinquefoil. As the rest of the state, summers are very sunny, with temperatures reaching more than 30 °F (17 °C) from late June through late September. The average monthly daily temperature ranges from 23.9 °C (4.5 °F) in December to 68.6 °C in July.

Demographics

As of 2010's census, 66,788 people, 29,081 households, and 13,990 families resided in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 92.1% White, 0.5% African American, 2.8% Native American, 1.2% Asian, and 0.6% from other races. The median income for a household was $30,366, and for a family was $42,103. About 40.3% of Missoula residents age 25 and older have a bachelor's or advanced college degree. About 11.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.5 per cent of those under age 18 and 9.3 percent of those age 65 or over. The population was distributed as 17.9% of residents under 18, 19.7 per cent between the ages of 18 and 24, 29.6 per cent from 25 to 44, and 10.1 per cent who were 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was2.82. The gender makeup ofThe city was 49.9 per cent male and 50.1 percent female, with the median age of 30.9 years. About 35.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and. 9.1%. had someone living alone who was 65 years old or older who was living alone. The city's population density was 2,427.8 inhabitants per square mile (937.4/km²).

Economy

Missoula is the hub of its Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) economic area, which includes the Montana counties of Flathead, Lake, Lincoln, Mineral, Missoula, Ravalli, and Sanders. Key businesses sectors serving the area include health care, retail shopping, transportation, financial services, government and social services, education, events, arts and culture. As of 2013, per capita personal income ranked 239 at $37,397 a year, 84% of the national average. The city's unemployment rate was 3.7% as of June 2015 dropping nearly 0.8% in the twelve months prior to the year's end. About 55% of employment in the city is made up of the service and retail sectors. The University of Montana has had a major impact on the development of the city's economy. The university has a close relationship with the city as MissoulA's largest employer and with the millions of dollars the school brings into the city through visitors of school-sponsored sporting and cultural events. In addition to nearly 4 million out-of-state visitors annually, which makes tourism a significant aspect of the Missoul a economy, Missoulla also is home to a vibrant sector of alternative healthcare. The Missoulla area's gross metropolitan product is $5 billion, an increase of more than 47% since 2003. The BEA listed the economic area population at 306,050 as of 2011, the BEA list the economicarea population at306,050.

Culture

Missoula is often considered the cultural center of Montana. Community events generally take place downtown either outdoors or in one of the several downtown buildings listed on the National Historic Registry. The Montana Museum of Art & Culture, which became a state museum in 2001, is one Montana's oldest cultural reserves, having begun in 1894. Missoula's two historic theatres both hold annual film festivals: the Roxy hosting the International Wildlife Film Festival, established in 1977 as the first juried wildlife film festival in the world. Big Sky Brewing opened in 1995 and with a production over 38,000 barrels in 2008, it is by far Montana's largest brewery, and produces the best-selling beer brewed in Montana, Moose Drool Brown Ale. The city also holds annual the Garden City Brewfest and Winterfest, and also periodically hosts the Montana Brewers Festival. The longest-standing event downtown has been the MissoulA Farmers Market that was founded in 1972, which provides an outlet for Western Montana produce on Saturday mornings from May to October as well as Tuesday evenings from July to early September. An arts and crafts People's Market and a Clark Fork Market run concurrently. In 2011, Tamarack Brewing and Flathead Lake Brewing Company from nearby Lake County opened pub houses at downtown Missoul a locations. BigSky, Bayern, and Kettlehouse represent the first-, second-, and third-largest breweries, respectively, in Montana. The National Museum of Forest Service History is constructing the National Conservation Legacy and Education Center in Missouli.

Sports

Missoula plays host to a variety of intercollegiate, youth, and amateur sports organizations in addition to a minor league baseball team. The Montana Grizzlies' football and basketball teams of the University of Montana have the highest attendance. The Missoula PaddleHeads play in the Rocky Mountain-based Pioneer Baseball League. The Thomas Meagher Hurling Club are named after the late Irish nationalist and former acting Territorial Governor of Montana, Thomas Francis Meagher. Since 1977, MissoulA has also held "Maggotfest", a festival-style rugby tournament hosted by the Missoul a Maggots Rugby Club the first weekend in May. The non-elimination tournament focuses on the fun aspect of the game, attracting 36 teams (male and female) from around the U.S. and Canada. In regular-season play, themissoula maggots compete as part of the Montana Rugby Union alongside another local rugby team, theUniversity of Montana Jesters. The Grizzlies men's and Lady Griz basketball teams have also been successful at the conference level, where they both rank at or near the top in attendance, about 4,000 and 3,000, respectively, and play their home games at Dahlberg Arena. The club are also based in Missouli and play in. the Northwestern division of the USGAA. They play their games at Ogren Park at Allegiance Field. The team are named in honor of the late. Irish nationalist.

Parks and recreation

Missoula has over 400 acres (160 ha) of parkland, 22 miles (35 km) of trails, and nearly 5,000 acres of conserved open space. Located at the confluence of three rivers (the Clark Fork, Bitterroot, and Blackfoot), the area is also popular for white water rafting and fly fishing. Missoula hosts what Runner's World called the "best overall" marathon in the U.S. There are three ski areas within 100 miles (160 km): Montana Snowbowl, Discovery Ski Area, and Lost Trail Powder Mountain. The city has two aquatic parks, multiple golf courses, is home to the Adventure Cycling Association, and hosts the Garden City BrewFest and offered intimate concert settings for artists such as Jewel, Chris Isaak, Chris Marley, and B.B. King. A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean, a novel and subsequent film about fly fishing, was filmed in MissoulA in 1998. The film was based on the book and the book was adapted into the film A River runs Through It, which was released in 2005. The book was also adapted into a television series, which aired on PBS stations in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The movie was also released in Australia, where it was shown on PBS, PBS Canada, PBS UK, PBS USA, and PBS Digital Studios. It is also available on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK and the US, and on Blu-Ray in Australia.

Government and politics

Missoula's system of government has changed four times since 1883. The current system comprises a mayor and city treasurer elected in a citywide vote and 12 city council members who must reside in and are elected from one of six wards. All positions are nominally nonpartisan. Missoula County became the first county in Montana to adopt a county sales tax on gasoline (an option afforded to counties in Montana that had gone unused for several decades) The Montana Legislature and Governor Greg Gianforte blocked this decision the following year, repealing the sales tax provision from state law. In 2011, the Montana legislature, with a Republican House majority, attempted to overturn MissoulA's marijuana law and revoke its ability to have an anti-discrimination ordinance that included the LGBT community. The marijuana repeal was vetoed by then-Governor Brian Schweitzer and the attempt to repeal the anti- discrimination ordinance died in the State Senate. Having 13 Democrats and two Republicans in its state legislative delegation, Missoul a is known as a more liberal area than the rest of the state. The city's initiative to make marijuana possession the lowest priority of law enforcement in 2006, and symbolic resolutions calling on Congress to withdraw from Iraq in 2007, and to amend the U.S. Constitution to declare that "corporations are not human beings" in 2011, often put it at odds with the other parts of Montana. The state legislature has a Republican majority and a Democratic majority, and the city is represented by districts 91100 and 4650 in the Montana House of Representatives.

Education

Missoula's public schools are part of the Missoula County Public School districts 1, 4, 20, and 23. There are nine public elementary schools (kindergarten to 5th grade), three public middle schools (6th to 8th grades), and four public high schools (9th to 12th grades) The University of Montana has the state's second-largest enrollment, with 12,922 students as of 2015. The campus houses six colleges and three schools including Montana's first and only law school, the Alexander Blewett III School of Law. The university is also the location of the state’s Regional Federal Depository Library, and houses the state Arboretum. The city has several private schools including an international school, religious-affiliated schools, as well as Next Step Prep, a theater academy high school operated by the MISSoula Children's Theatre. MissoulA has a public library, the Missoulsa Public Library. The first school was opened in late 1869 with 16 students from around the region and their teacher Emma C. Slack, who had come to Missoul a by a two-month trip by horseback, railroad, and boat from Baltimore at the invitation of her brother. In 1974, the private Loyola Sacred Heart Catholic High School was created from a merger of the all-girls Sacred Heart Academy (est. 1873) and the all theboys Loyolas High School (EST. 1912) In 1980, the third public high school, Big Sky, was established.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Missoula, Missoula County, Montana = 14.6. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 45. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 20. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Missoula = 3.1 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 73,489 individuals with a median age of 33.8 age the population grows by 18.03% in Missoula, Missoula County, Montana population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 2,113.70 residents per square mile of area (816.11/km²). There are average 2.27 people per household in the 28,132 households with an average household income of $38,289 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 5.10% of the available work force and has dropped -2.68% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 29.54%. The number of physicians in Missoula per 100,000 population = 326.4.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Missoula = 14 inches and the annual snowfall = 36.9 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 102. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 159. 86 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 13.9 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 69, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Missoula, Missoula County, Montana which are owned by the occupant = 48.73%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 34 years with median home cost = $154,840 and home appreciation of -2.84%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $11.71 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $4,945 per student. There are 15.4 students for each teacher in the school, 403 students for each Librarian and 296 students for each Counselor. 5.03% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 25.51% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 12.41% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).