Musselshell County, Montana

Musselshell County
Musselshell County
County
	The Musselshell County Courthouse in Roundup
	Location within the U.S. state of Montana
	Montana's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 46°29′N 108°24′W / 46.49°N 108.4°W
Country	United States
State	Montana
Founded	February 2, 1911
Seat	Roundup
Largest city	Roundup
Area
• Total	1,871 sq mi (4,850 km2)
• Land	1,868 sq mi (4,840 km2)
• Water	2.8 sq mi (7 km2) 0.1%
Population (2020)
• Total	4,730
• Estimate (2022)	5,197
• Density	2.5/sq mi (0.98/km2)
Time zone	UTC−7 (Mountain)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−6 (MDT)
Congressional district	2nd
Website	musselshellcounty.org
	Montana county number 23;

Musselshell County is a county in south-central Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,730.^[3] Its county seat is Roundup.^[4]

History

Musselshell County was created in 1911 by Montana Governor Edwin L. Norris. The area was taken from Fergus, from Yellowstone, and Meagher counties. It was named for the Musselshell River which runs southwest–northeast through the county. That river had been thus named in 1805 by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, due to the abundance of freshwater mussels found along its banks. In 1915, a western portion of the county was partitioned off to form Golden Valley County, giving Musselshell County its present boundaries.

The county's northwestern area is rolling grasslands, which slope southeastward to the Musselshell River and the forested Bull Mountains in the southeast. The county has abundant natural resources of coal deposits, subterranean oil, and timbered slopes.^[1]

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,863.91 square miles (4,827.5 km²), of which 1,861.16 square miles (4,820.4 km²) is land and 2.75 square miles (7.1 km²) (0.1%) is water.^[5]

Major highways

Adjacent counties

National protected area

Lake Mason National Wildlife Refuge

Politics

In the fourteen national elections after its organization, Musselshell County voters selected Republican presidential candidates 50% of the time, and Democratic candidates 50% of the time. However, since the 1968 election, the Republican candidate has been selected in every election.

United States presidential election results for Musselshell County, Montana^[6]^[7]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	2,423	84.10%	413	14.34%	45	1.56%
2016	1,967	80.58%	332	13.60%	142	5.82%
2012	1,833	76.15%	492	20.44%	82	3.41%
2008	1,581	68.56%	636	27.58%	89	3.86%
2004	1,663	74.01%	538	23.94%	46	2.05%
2000	1,582	71.68%	512	23.20%	113	5.12%
1996	1,121	54.00%	652	31.41%	303	14.60%
1992	876	39.32%	648	29.08%	704	31.60%
1988	1,280	58.08%	898	40.74%	26	1.18%
1984	1,541	65.32%	781	33.11%	37	1.57%
1980	1,279	58.03%	784	35.57%	141	6.40%
1976	1,117	54.09%	922	44.65%	26	1.26%
1972	1,202	61.11%	689	35.03%	76	3.86%
1968	953	51.15%	795	42.67%	115	6.17%
1964	823	40.90%	1,189	59.10%	0	0.00%
1960	1,107	50.09%	1,100	49.77%	3	0.14%
1956	1,165	51.10%	1,115	48.90%	0	0.00%
1952	1,253	50.08%	1,240	49.56%	9	0.36%
1948	1,010	40.46%	1,188	47.60%	298	11.94%
1944	1,004	42.27%	1,342	56.51%	29	1.22%
1940	1,086	36.79%	1,807	61.21%	59	2.00%
1936	771	25.58%	2,092	69.41%	151	5.01%
1932	1,021	35.95%	1,584	55.77%	235	8.27%
1928	1,608	50.55%	1,444	45.39%	129	4.06%
1924	1,488	45.55%	247	7.56%	1,532	46.89%
1920	1,910	59.22%	951	29.49%	364	11.29%
1916	1,738	42.92%	2,036	50.28%	275	6.79%
1912	483	30.80%	470	29.97%	615	39.22%

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1920	12,030		—
1930	7,242		−39.8%
1940	5,717		−21.1%
1950	5,408		−5.4%
1960	4,888		−9.6%
1970	3,734		−23.6%
1980	4,428		18.6%
1990	4,106		−7.3%
2000	4,497		9.5%
2010	4,538		0.9%
2020	4,730		4.2%
2022 (est.)	5,197	^[8]	9.9%
U.S. Decennial Census^[9] 1790–1960,^[10] 1900–1990,^[11] 1990–2000,^[12] 2010–2020^[3]

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 4,730 people living in the county.^{[citation needed]}

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 4,538 people, 2,046 households, and 1,276 families in the county. The population density was 2.4 inhabitants per square mile (0.93/km²). There were 2,654 housing units at an average density of 1.4 units per square mile (0.54 units/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 96.1% white, 1.3% American Indian, 0.2% black or African American, 0.2% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 2.6% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 28.1% were German, 16.5% were English, 16.1% were Irish, 7.6% were Norwegian, and 7.0% were American.

Of the 2,046 households, 23.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.4% were married couples living together, 6.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 37.6% were non-families, and 33.5% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.78. The median age was 49.1 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $37,033 and the median income for a family was $47,860. Males had a median income of $33,182 versus $25,750 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,875. About 14.1% of families and 17.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.6% of those under age 18 and 9.6% of those age 65 or over.