Best PlacesAppam, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Appam, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Appam ranks 12,082nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Appam
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.
Appam's strengths and weaknesses
Where Appam ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Household income$104,374 median, better than 87% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 83% of towns
Where Appam ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Appam
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Appam home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $104,374, 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 Appam's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Appam
Appam 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 Appam.
Who works in Appam, and how
Work in Appam centers on health care & social and mining & oil & gas. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Appam
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Appam.
What the weather is like in Appam, month by month
Appam sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 21, with lows near 4. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21° | 12° | 4° |
| April | 52° | 38° | 27° |
| July | 82° | 68° | 56° |
| October | 54° | 41° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Appam
The nearest airport, Williston Basin International, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 552 miles away.
The best schools in and around Appam
Schools across Appam average a B−, better than 58% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Little Powder ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Ray Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Divide County Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Sheridan High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Ray High SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Grenora High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Appam school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Appam 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 Appam against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Appam
Is Appam a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Appam ranks 12,082nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, low taxes, and high incomes, 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 Appam expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $163,631. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $104,374 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Appam safe?
Appam is safer than 25% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $528 per resident a year.
Compare Appam with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Appam. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Appam 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.
Appam detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Appam: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Appam: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Appam: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Appam: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Appam 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.