Life Skills and Money Education in Fairfield, MT
With a population of roughly 794, Fairfield, Montana is the 64th-largest of 125 incorporated places in Montana. Since 2020 it has added residents, rising 3% from 771 to 794. At a median age of 31.3, much of the population is still early in the decisions — first lease, first card, first paycheck deduction — that set financial habits for decades.
Among adults 25 and older in Fairfield, 25.2% hold a bachelor's degree or higher. That runs 3.3 points above the Montana average of 21.9%. Flip that figure and it describes 74.8% of the 456 adults 25 and over counted in the 2019–2023 ACS, about 341 people whose money skills came from somewhere other than a university.
Median household income is $66,544. That is $7,525 above the Montana median. About 5.7% of residents live below the poverty line. The median home is valued at $203,000 — about 3.1× the median household income, a ratio that makes the arithmetic of a mortgage worth understanding before signing one.
Fairfield by the numbers
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Population (2024) | 794 |
| Change since 2020 | +3% |
| Median household income | $66,544 |
| Adults 25+ with a bachelor’s degree | 25.2% |
| Adults 25+ with a high school diploma | 93.6% |
| Median age | 31.3 |
| Poverty rate | 5.7% |
| Unemployment rate | 4.7% |
| Median home value | $203,000 |
| Land area | 0.315 sq mi |
| Population density | 2,521 / sq mi |
What Montana teaches — and to whom
Montana requires personal finance instruction, but folds it into another course rather than a class of its own — so how much a student actually gets depends heavily on the district and the teacher. Coverage like that varies enormously between districts, and it reaches no one who has already graduated.
LearnLife organises this the way the decisions actually arrive: Legal literacy — leases, contracts, employment rights and what a signature actually commits you to; Money — budgeting, credit, debt and taxes — the mechanics nobody is formally taught; Emotional regulation — the self-management that decides whether the other skills ever get used.
Where to start in Fairfield
Get the first-decade decisions right
A median age of 31.3 means a large share of Fairfield is making decisions with thirty-year consequences: the first credit card, the first lease, whether to take the employer match. These are cheap to get right now and expensive to unwind later.
Questions people ask about Fairfield
Do high school students in Fairfield, Montana have to take a personal finance class?
Montana requires personal finance content, but delivers it inside another course rather than a dedicated class, so the depth varies by district and teacher.
How many adults in Fairfield, Montana have a college degree?
25.2% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor's degree or higher, based on the Census Bureau's 2019–2023 American Community Survey. The remaining 74.8% are managing their finances without one.
What is the median household income in Fairfield, Montana?
$66,544, per the Census Bureau's 2019–2023 American Community Survey.
Where can adults in Fairfield, Montana learn personal finance?
Graduation requirements only ever reach people still in school. For adults, LearnLife covers the same ground on demand — money, legal literacy and the self-management that decides whether either gets used.
Start with whichever one is costing you money right now.
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