Chouteau County, Montana

Chouteau County is a located in the North-Central region of the  of. As of, the population is 5,970. Its is. It was established in 1865 as one of the original nine counties of Montana, and named in 1882 after, a fur trader who established a trading post that became Fort Benton, which was once an important port on the.

It is home to the tribe on the. It contains part of the.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 10,352 (3,997 ). 10,291 km² (3,973 sq mi) of it is land and 62 km² (24 sq mi) of it (0.59%) is water.

Chouteau County was once the largest county in the and the second largest in the United States, with an area of 15,439 square miles in the early 20th century. However, some parts of the county were over 250 miles from Fort Benton, and in 1909 an agreement was reached to subdivide the county.

The land is mostly. The rise in the eastern section and the  and the s are in the southern portion. Major rivers include the, , and the.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - north
 * - east
 * - southeast
 * - south
 * - south
 * - west
 * - northwest

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 5,970 people, 2,226 households, and 1,613 families residing in the county. The was 1/km² (2/sq mi). There were 2,776 housing units at an average density of <1/km² (1/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 84.00%, 0.08% or , 14.62% , 0.23% , 0.10% , 0.23% from , and 0.72% from two or more races. 0.67% of the population were or  of any race. 23.9% were of, 11.7% , 8.2% and 7.3%  ancestry according to. 96.0% spoke, 2.5% and 1.0%  as their first language.

There were 2,226 households out of which 34.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.90% were living together, 8.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.50% were non-families. 24.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.11.

In the county the population was spread out with 28.80% under the age of 18, 6.50% from 18 to 24, 24.10% from 25 to 44, 23.10% from 45 to 64, and 17.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 100.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.10 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $29,150, and the median income for a family was $32,399. Males had a median income of $22,080 versus $19,318 for females. The for the county was $14,851. About 16.50% of families and 20.50% of the population were below the, including 29.30% of those under age 18 and 8.40% of those age 65 or over.