Best PlacesBottineau, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bottineau, 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.
Bottineau ranks 13,233rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bottineau
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's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bottineau ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Short commute19.5 minutes each way, better than 89% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 89% of towns
Where Bottineau ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 24% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bottineau
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bottineau home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,266, 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's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 9 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
Bottineau's age mix sits close to the national median, 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.
Who works in Bottineau, and how
Work in Bottineau centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Bottineau
Bottineau has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bottineau and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bottineau, month by month
Bottineau sees roughly 122 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
The nearest airport, Minot International, is about 56 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 437 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bottineau
Schools across Bottineau average a B−, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bottineau Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Bottineau Junior-senior High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bottineau school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bottineau 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 against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bottineau
Is Bottineau a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bottineau ranks 13,233rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and a stable housing market, and lowest on distance from a big city and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bottineau expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $195,956. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $79,266 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Bottineau safe?
Bottineau is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $526 per resident a year.
Compare Bottineau with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bottineau. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bottineau 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bottineau: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bottineau: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bottineau: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bottineau: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bottineau 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.