Carbon County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,473. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Red Lodge. Carbon County is part of the Billings, MT Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Carbon County was named for the rich coal deposits found in the area. It was organized on March 4, 1895, from portions of

Park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

and

Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...

counties. Land from

and

counties was used to form Carbon County on March 4, 1895. More than sixty federally designated historic sites are located in the county, including Petroglyph Canyon, one of the state's most important

rock art In archaeology, rock arts are human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type al ...

sites. The first commercial

oil well An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce only gas m ...

in the state was established in Elk Basin fields in 1915.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.6%) is water. Granite Peak, the state's highest mountain, is found in Carbon County's Beartooth Mountains. The Beartooth Highway, one of the "most spectacular alpine highways", links Red Lodge to Cooke City. The Pryor Mountains are in the east of the county, along with the Big Horn River.

Major highways

U.S. Highway 212 * US 310

U.S. Highway 310 * MT-72

Montana Highway 72 * MT-78

Montana Highway 78

Adjacent counties

* Park County - west * Stillwater County - north * Yellowstone County - northeast * Big Horn County - east *

Big Horn County, Wyoming Big Horn County is a county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 11,521. The county seat is Basin. Its north boundary abuts the south boundary of Montana. History Big Horn County was created ...

- southeast *

Park County, Wyoming Park County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 29,624. The county seat is Cody, Wyoming, Cody. Park County is a major tourism destination. The county has ove ...

- south

National protected areas

* Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area (part) * Custer National Forest (part) * Gallatin National Forest (part)

Politics

Carbon County has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1968.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 10,473 people living in the county.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 10,078 people, 4,571 households, and 2,884 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 6,441 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.2% white, 0.8% American Indian, 0.3% black or African American, 0.2% Asian, 0.4% from other races, and 1.0% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.9% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 32.3% were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 16.2% were Irish, 14.5% were English, 12.6% were American, and 6.6% were Norwegian. Of the 4,571 households, 23.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.4% were married couples living together, 6.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.9% were non-families, and 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.74. The median age was 48.1 years. The median income for a household in the county was $49,010 and the median income for a family was $59,823. Males had a median income of $41,241 versus $26,150 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,983. About 8.1% of families and 12.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 14.1% of those under age 18 and 11.1% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

During the early history of Carbon County,

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

was the predominant industry. The current economy relies on agriculture, recreation, and tourism. In 2009 the top employers were Beartooth Hospital & Health Center, Red Lodge Mountain, and the Red Lodge Pizza Company. In December 2014, construction began on a large

windfarm A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...

, Mud Springs Wind Ranch, with 120

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

s, southeast of Bridger.

Communities

City

* Red Lodge (county seat)

Towns

* Bearcreek * Bridger * Fromberg * Joliet

Census-designated places

Belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

* Boyd *

Edgar Edgar is a commonly used masculine English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Edgar'' (composed of ''wikt:en:ead, ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''Gar (spear), gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the Late Midd ...

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

* Luther (originally Linley) * Montaqua * Roberts * Rockvale * Roscoe (originally Morris) *

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

Unincorporated communities

* Alpine * Bowler * George Place * Peterson Place * Richel Lodge * Selmes''Selmes, Carbon County MT'' Google Maps (accessed December 31, 2018)
/ref> * Warren * Washoe

Former communities

* Carbonado * Chance * Chickentown * Fairbanks * Gebo (originally Coalville) * Golden * International * New Caledonia * Riverview * Scotch Coulee * Stringtown

References

External links

County government website

Homepage of the ''Carbon County News''

Carbon County Sheriff's Office
{{Coord, 45.23, -109.02, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-MT_source:UScensus1990 Billings metropolitan area 1895 establishments in Montana Populated places established in 1895