Best PlacesAdams, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Adams, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Adams ranks 21,268th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Adams
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Adams' strengths and weaknesses
Where Adams ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 137 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 85% of towns
Where Adams ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Adams
A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Adams home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,433, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Adams' effective rate of 0.79%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Adams
Adams runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Adams.
Who works in Adams, and how
Work in Adams centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Adams
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Adams.
What the weather is like in Adams, month by month
Adams sees roughly 137 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 18, with lows near 1. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18° | 9° | 1° |
| April | 49° | 38° | 29° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 59° |
| October | 53° | 43° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Adams
The nearest airport, Devils Lake Regional, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 334 miles away.
The best schools in and around Adams
Schools across Adams average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Edmore Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Argyle ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Kittson Central ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- East Grand Forks Senior HighB− · 43% proficient
- Valley-edinburg High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Stephen Senior HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Adams school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Adams measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Adams against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Adams
Is Adams a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Adams ranks 21,268th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, health care access, and the weather, and lowest on distance from a big city and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Adams expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $109,876. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $78,433 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is Adams safe?
Adams is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $575 per resident a year.
Compare Adams with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Adams. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Adams represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Adams detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Adams: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Adams: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Adams: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Adams: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Adams detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.