Best PlacesBurleigh County, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Burleigh County, 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.
Burleigh County ranks 74th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Burleigh 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.
Burleigh County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Burleigh County ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of counties
- Household income$98,112 median, better than 91% of counties
Where Burleigh County ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 18% of counties
- Cheap childcare$978 a month, better than only 18% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 24% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Burleigh County
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Burleigh County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $98,112, 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 Burleigh County'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 and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Burleigh County
Burleigh County'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 Burleigh County.
Who works in Burleigh County, and how
Work in Burleigh County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Burleigh County
Burleigh County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 89% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Burleigh County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Burleigh County growing, and who is moving in?
Burleigh County has grown about 14% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Bismarck, ND metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Burleigh County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Burleigh County, month by month
Burleigh County sees roughly 121 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 15° | 5° |
| April | 57° | 42° | 28° |
| July | 89° | 73° | 58° |
| October | 61° | 46° | 33° |
Flying in and out of Burleigh County
The nearest airport, Bismarck Municipal, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 387 miles away.
The best schools in and around Burleigh County
Schools across Burleigh County average a C+, better than 48% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Naughton Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Victor Solheim Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Wilton Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Horizon Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Horizon Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Simle Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Wing High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Century High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
- Hazelton-moffit-braddock High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Burleigh County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Burleigh 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 Burleigh County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Burleigh County suits
Families
Schools land around the 48th percentile and crime safety beats 96%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 9% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 75% of counties and health care access beats 91%.
Common questions about living in Burleigh County
Is Burleigh County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Burleigh County ranks 74th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, low crime, and population health, and lowest on tree cover 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 Burleigh County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $339,768. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $98,112 median income, cost of living beats 96% of counties.
Is Burleigh County safe?
Yes, Burleigh County is safer than 96% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $293 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Burleigh County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 28 with lows near 5. That works out to about 121 pleasant days a year, more than 75% of counties.
Is Burleigh County good for families?
Schools beat 48% of counties, crime safety beats 96%, and childcare runs $978 a month.
Compare Burleigh County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Burleigh County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Burleigh 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.
Burleigh County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Burleigh County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Burleigh County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Burleigh County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Burleigh County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Burleigh 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.