Garfield 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 of

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 1,173. 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 ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. Garfield County is noteworthy as the site of the discovery and excavation of four of the world's dozen or so major specimens (as of 1994) of ''

Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' () is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The type species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' ( meaning 'king' in Latin), often shortened to ''T. rex'' or colloquially t-rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It live ...

''. A cast of the skull of one of these dinosaurs is on display at the Garfield County Museum.

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 (3.6%) is water. Its average

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of is the third-lowest of any county outside of

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

(behind Loving County, Texas and Esmeralda County, Nevada).

Major highways

* Montana Highway 22 * Montana Highway 59 * Montana Highway 24 * Montana Highway 200

Adjacent counties

* Phillips County – northwest * Valley County – north * McCone County – east * Prairie County – east * Custer County – southeast * Rosebud County – south * Petroleum County – west

National protected area

* Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge (part)

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 1,173 people living in the county.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 1,206 people, 532 households, and 347 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 844 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 98.6% white, 0.4% American Indian, 0.2% black or African American, 0.1% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 0.5% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 0.2% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 33.3% were German, 16.9% were Irish, 15.0% were Norwegian, 13.3% were English, 10.5% were American, 8.1% were Swedish, and 7.4% were Scottish. Of the 532 households, 22.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.0% were married couples living together, 5.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 34.8% were non-families, and 30.3% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.86. The median age was 46.4 years. The median income for a household in the county was $42,955 and the median income for a family was $54,375. Males had a median income of $37,813 versus $19,286 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,424. About 8.1% of families and 10.7% 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 16.1% of those under age 18 and 8.9% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

Like nearly all of the High Plains outside of Native American counties, Garfield is an overwhelmingly Republican county. It has been the most Republican county in Montana since the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

United States presidential election. The last Democratic presidential candidate to carry the county was

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

in 1940, and in the last eight Presidential elections no Democratic candidate has managed to receive more than 15.1 percent. In the 2016, 2020, and 2024 elections, Garfield was the only county in Montana to give over 90% of the vote to the Republican nominee, namely

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. Garfield County is also Republican at the local level. Democratic governor Brian Schweitzer never received more than 37 percent of the county's vote and no Democratic gubernatorial candidate has carried the county since Ted Schwinden in 1984. As part of the 15th district of the Montana Senate, the county is represented by Republican Jim Peterson and as part of the 30th district of the Montana House of Representatives it is represented by Republican Dave Kasten.

Communities

Town

(county seat)

Unincorporated communities

* Benzien * Big Dry * Brusett * Cohagen * Haxby * Hillside * Mosby * Sand Springs * TindallHistopolis: Tindall, Garfield County, Montana, United States
Accessed July 23, 2021.

References

External links

Garfield County, MT
{{Coord, 47.28, -106.99, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-MT_source:UScensus1990 1919 establishments in Montana Populated places established in 1919