Riverside Middle School

Riverside Middle School is a 6-8 campus of well-populated scale in Billings, Montana, run under Billings Elem, instructing 436 students in grades 6 through 8. That puts it 214% bigger than the typical public school in Montana, which averages around 139 students.

Riverside Middle School is one of 29 schools operated by Billings Elem, a district that instructs 11,377 students overall.

Demographically, Riverside Middle School records that the largest single group is White, at 57% of enrollment; the rest comes out to 15% Native American, 15% Hispanic, 9% multiracial, 3% Black. By comparison, Yellowstone County as a whole is about 86% White, so the school skews considerably less White than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Riverside Middle School logs 35 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 12.3:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 11.3:1 average. Roughly 68% of students at Riverside Middle School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Yellowstone County runs at roughly 48%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

In the surrounding community, census data for Yellowstone County shows the typical household earns roughly $76,570 per year, about 34% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 7%. Across Yellowstone County's 68 public schools (combined enrollment of about 23,853 students), Riverside Middle School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Orchard School, roughly 0.3 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools.

Riverside Middle School operates from a city-core location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 16%: 520 students in 2018 compared to 436 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share contracted from 19% to 15%.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.