Best PlacesBuford, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Buford, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Buford ranks 20,086th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Buford
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.
Buford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Buford ranks high
- Short commute17.9 minutes each way, better than 93% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 87% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 86% of towns
- Household income$101,773 median, better than 86% of towns
Where Buford ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Buford
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Buford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $101,773, 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 Buford'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 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 Buford
Buford runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Buford.
Who works in Buford, and how
Work in Buford centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Buford
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Buford.
What the weather is like in Buford, month by month
Buford sees roughly 131 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 17° | 8° |
| April | 58° | 42° | 29° |
| July | 89° | 73° | 57° |
| October | 60° | 44° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Buford
The nearest airport, Williston Basin International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 555 miles away.
The best schools in and around Buford
Schools across Buford average a B−, better than 62% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Little Powder ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- East Fairview Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Eight Mile Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Sundance Secondary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Watford City High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Eight Mile High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Buford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Buford 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 Buford against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Buford
Is Buford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Buford ranks 20,086th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, low taxes, and population health, and lowest on noise 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 Buford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $293,514. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $101,773 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Buford safe?
Buford is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $412 per resident a year.
Compare Buford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Buford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Buford 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.
Buford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Buford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Buford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Buford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Buford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Buford 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.