Best PlacesBottineau County, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Bottineau County, 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.
Bottineau County ranks 871st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bottineau County
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.
Bottineau County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bottineau County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- QuietBetter than 87% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 82% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 79% of counties
Where Bottineau County ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 12% of counties
- Cheap childcare$969 a month, better than only 19% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 29% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 31% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Bottineau County
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bottineau County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,094, 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 Bottineau County's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bottineau County
Bottineau County 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 Bottineau County.
Who works in Bottineau County, and how
Work in Bottineau County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Bottineau County
Bottineau County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of counties and more parkland per resident than 98% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bottineau County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Bottineau County growing, and who is moving in?
Bottineau County has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Minot, ND.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Bottineau County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Bottineau County, month by month
Bottineau County sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 18, with lows near 2. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18° | 10° | 2° |
| April | 49° | 37° | 27° |
| July | 81° | 68° | 57° |
| October | 52° | 41° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Bottineau County
The nearest airport, Minot International, is about 49 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 443 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bottineau County
Schools across Bottineau County average a B−, better than 60% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Kittson Central ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Mls-mohall Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Newburg-united Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Mls-mohall High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Newburg-united High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Tgu-towner High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bottineau County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bottineau County 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 Bottineau County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Bottineau County
Is Bottineau County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bottineau County ranks 871st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, a stable housing market, and quiet, and lowest on distance from a big city and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bottineau County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $197,839. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $81,094 median income, cost of living beats 70% of counties.
Is Bottineau County safe?
Bottineau County is safer than 29% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $511 per resident a year.
Compare Bottineau County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bottineau County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bottineau County 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.
Bottineau County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bottineau County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bottineau County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bottineau County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bottineau County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bottineau County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.