Best PlacesBerlin, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Berlin, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Berlin ranks 8,960th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Berlin
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.
Berlin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Berlin ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 145 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 87% of towns
- Short commute20.9 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
Where Berlin ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Berlin
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Berlin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,721, 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 Berlin's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Berlin
Berlin 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 Berlin.
Who works in Berlin, and how
Work in Berlin centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Berlin
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Berlin.
What the weather is like in Berlin, month by month
Berlin sees roughly 145 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 22, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22° | 13° | 5° |
| April | 52° | 40° | 30° |
| July | 84° | 71° | 60° |
| October | 57° | 45° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Berlin
The nearest airport, Jamestown Regional, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 276 miles away.
The best schools in and around Berlin
Schools across Berlin average a B−, better than 55% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lamoure Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Willow Bank Colony SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Edgeley High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Lamoure High SchoolC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Berlin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Berlin 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 Berlin against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Berlin
Is Berlin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Berlin ranks 8,960th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, the weather, and low taxes, and lowest on air quality and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Berlin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $125,786. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $89,721 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Berlin safe?
Yes, Berlin is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $258 per resident a year.
Compare Berlin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Berlin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Berlin 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.
Berlin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Berlin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Berlin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Berlin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Berlin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Berlin 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.