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City size

How big is Missoula, Montana?

Size is not all that matters. But still, we would love to know how big Missoula in Montana is. Here is the answer:

Missoula, Montana covers an area of 76.09 square kilometers (29.38 square miles).

With 73,340 people living in Missoula that comes to a population density of 963.86 inhabitants per square kilometer (2496.26 / sq mi)

As a reference: The 8,398,748 people living in New York City are crammed onto 1214 sq km (468.73 sq mi), which results into a population density of 6918 inhabitants per square kilometer (17918 / sq mi).

The population density of Missoula in Montana is 76.09 square kilometers (29.38 square miles)

Missoula (listen) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluences with the Bitterroot and Blackfoot Rivers in western Montana and at the convergence of five mountain ranges, thus it is often described as the “hub of five valleys”. In 2019, the United States Census Bureau estimated the city’s population at 75,516 and the population of the Missoula Metropolitan Area at 118,791. After Billings, Missoula is both the second largest city and metropolitan area in Montana. Missoula is home to the University of Montana, a public research university.William T. Hamilton first settled in the Missoula area in 1858 with a trading post near current Missoula along the Rattlesnake Creek along with Captain Richard Grant settling near Grant Creek, and David Pattee near Pattee Canyon. Missoula was founded in 1860 as Hellgate Trading Post while still part of Washington Territory. By 1866, the settlement had moved east, 5 miles (8 km) upstream, and renamed Missoula Mills, later shortened to Missoula. The mills provided supplies to western settlers traveling along the Mullan Road. The establishment of Fort Missoula in 1877 to protect settlers further stabilized the economy. The arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1883 brought rapid growth and the maturation of the local lumber industry. In 1893, the Montana Legislature chose the city as the site for the state’s first university. Along with the U.S. Forest Service headquarters founded in 1908, lumber and the university remained staples of the local economy for the next hundred years.By the 1990s, Missoula’s lumber industry had gradually disappeared, and as of 2009, the city’s largest employers were the University of Montana, Missoula County Public Schools, and Missoula’s two hospitals. The city is governed by a mayor–council government with twelve city council members, two from each of the six wards. In and around Missoula are 400 acres (160 ha) of parkland, 22 miles (35 km) of trails, and nearly 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) of open-space conservation land with adjacent Mount Jumbo home to grazing elk and mule deer during the winter. The city is also home to both Montana’s largest and its oldest active breweries as well as the Montana Grizzlies, one of the strongest college football programs in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Notable residents include the first woman in the U.S. Congress, Jeannette Rankin, and the United States’ longest-serving Senate Majority Leader, Mike Mansfield.

Cities with a similar size as Missoula

If you want to check which cities have a similar size as Missoula, Montana, here you go:

  • Liberty, Missouri with a size of 75.12 square kilometers (75.12 sq mi), population: 29,149
  • Pocatello, Idaho with a size of 84.61 square kilometers (84.61 sq mi), population: 58,255
  • Rancho Cordova, California with a size of 91.22 square kilometers (91.22 sq mi), population: 67,839
  • Albertville, Alabama with a size of 68.99 square kilometers (68.99 sq mi), population: 21,556
  • Yukon, Oklahoma with a size of 69.09 square kilometers (69.09 sq mi), population: 22,709
  • Otsego, Minnesota with a size of 78.78 square kilometers (78.78 sq mi), population: 13,571
  • Strongsville, Ohio with a size of 63.79 square kilometers (63.79 sq mi), population: 44,750
  • Ham Lake, Minnesota with a size of 92.88 square kilometers (92.88 sq mi), population: 15,296
  • Elkhart, Indiana with a size of 68.66 square kilometers (68.66 sq mi), population: 50,949
  • Hammond, Indiana with a size of 64.45 square kilometers (64.45 sq mi), population: 80,830

Cities with a similar population density as Missoula

Other cities that have a similar population density as Missoula, Montana are:

Cities with a similar population size as Missoula

Here a list of cities that have a similar number of inhabitants like Missoula, Montana: