Billings

About The Billings

Billings is a county seat of Yellowstone County. Nicknamed as Magic City due to its rapid growth as a railroad town, Billings is named after the president of the Northern Pacific Railroad, Frederick H. Billings. BestLife Magazine has recently ranked this city the 3rd best place in the U.S. to raise a family.

Founded in 1877, this city was established in 1882 in the Montana Territory near the already-existing town of Coulson, which was situated on the Yellowstone River. Coulson began to die and Billings flourished when the Northern Pacific Railroad came into fore. This city had 400 buildings with the population of 1500 people by 1883. It matured as a commercial district in a nine-block area. The city had its first swimming pool in 1914.

Billings had to suffer from a major flood in 1937. But it developed into a major financial, medical and cultural center in the region after World War II. This city surpassed Great Falls as Montana's largest city in 1960. It had suffered a short decline in population due to the oil crisis in 1970. Interestingly its population rebounded quickly in the early 1980. The city has won the All-America City Award in 1992.

According to the 2000 census, Billings has a total population of 89,847. It has 37,525 households and 23,152 families residing here. Its population density is 2,665.1 per square mile. There are 39,293 housing units at an average density of 1,165.6/sq mi. Its racial makeup is 91.87% Whites, 0.55% African Americans, 3.44% Native Americans, 0.59% Asians, 0.04% Pacific Islanders, 1.45% from miscellaneous races and 2.06% from two or more races. Its Hispanic or Latino race consists of 4.18% of its total population.