Best PlacesAshley, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ashley, 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.
Ashley ranks 18,589th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ashley
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.
Ashley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ashley ranks high
- Short commute10.5 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 163 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
Where Ashley ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Household income$50,376 median, better than only 13% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ashley
A household needs to earn about $17,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ashley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $50,376, 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 Ashley's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ashley
Ashley 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 Ashley.
Who works in Ashley, and how
Work in Ashley centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Ashley
Ashley has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Ashley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ashley, month by month
Ashley sees roughly 163 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 23, with lows near 6. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23° | 14° | 6° |
| April | 53° | 40° | 30° |
| July | 84° | 71° | 60° |
| October | 58° | 44° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Ashley
The nearest airport, Aberdeen Regional, is about 60 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 307 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ashley
Schools across Ashley average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ellendale Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Kulm Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Wishek Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Zeeland High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Ellendale High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Ashley High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ashley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ashley 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 Ashley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ashley
Is Ashley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ashley ranks 18,589th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, a stable housing market, and walkability, 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 Ashley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $62,916. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $50,376 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Ashley safe?
Ashley is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $511 per resident a year.
Compare Ashley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ashley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ashley 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.
Ashley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ashley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ashley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ashley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ashley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ashley 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.