Landscapes and Natural Beauty
Vision: We will remain one of the most beautiful places to live on earth.
Tourism
People from all over Montana, the nation and world come to Park County to experience Yellowstone National Park and immerse themselves in our natural environment. The charts below are indicators of increasing visitation to Park County.
The chart on the left shows the annual total number of vehicles at the North Gate entrance to Yellowstone and the chart on the right shows the daily average number of vehicles traveling on Highway 89 north of Tom Miner Basin each day as monitored by MDOT.
Note: The scales on these charts have been zoomed in to magnify the data points. Hover over each data point to see the value.
This chart shows an increase in lodging tax revenue collected from visitors staying at lodging properties in Park County. These lodging properties include hotels, campgrounds, RV parks, bed and breakfasts, vacation rentals, etc. located in the county.
Development
New residential addresses are another indicator of growth in Park County. The chart below shows the number assigned by year in Park County. This data does not include new residential addresses from the incorporated towns of Livingston and Clyde Park. According to Park County government, it may reflect errors, omissions and inconsistencies but is provided to give an overview of residential development in Park County. The data for 2020 are through October of 2020.
The chart below shows the septic permits issued in Park County by year. This data does not include data related to sewage infrastructure and use within Livingston city limits unless a property within Livingston city limits is served by a septic system. Issued permits are valid for two years. This data may reflect errors, omissions and inconsistencies but is provided to give an overview of development in Park County. The data for 2020 are through October of 2020.
Taxes
Another significant data point to consider in Park County is the amount of taxes paid by county and property tax collections, as reported by the Montana Department of Revenue. As shown in the charts below, total income tax paid, total taxable income and total income has increased in Park County from 2014 to 2018. Also, taxable value by property class has increased in many of the categories – most significantly as seen in residential improvements.
About the Data
The Park County Community Foundation articulated the community vision after hearing thoughts from more than 700 community members including: discussions with nonprofits and other community leaders; a county-wide survey with more than 640 responses; and six focus groups throughout the county. To help the community measure and achieve progress towards the vision, we used insights from more than 70 sources and expert interviews to develop a community dashboard of key metrics.
Traffic count data for the North Gate entrance is from the National Park Service and for North of the Tom Miner Basin is from Montana Department of Transportation.
Total lodging tax revenue is from the Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development.
Residential addresses data is from the Park County GIS (Geographical Information Systems).
Septic permit data is from the Park County Health Department.
Tax revenue data is from the Montana Department of Revenue.
Additional Resources
• HealthyPeople 2020: Access to Health Services