Best PlacesCass County, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Cass County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cass County ranks 131st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $88,671, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are noise, tree cover, and disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in Cass 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.
The best areas in Cass County
The parts of Cass County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Horace
More households have young kids, local pay stretches further, and crime runs lower.
West Fargo
Incomes run lower and fewer adults hold degrees.
Fargo
Fewer residents vote and it is noisier.
Scores across Cass County run from about the 16th to the 99th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Cass County's strengths and weaknesses
Cass County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Biking is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Population health and walkability follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Noise, tree cover, and disaster risk hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Cass County ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of counties
Where Cass County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 8% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 18% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of counties
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 22% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Cass County
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cass County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,671, 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 Cass County's effective rate of 1.15%, 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 Cass County
Cass County runs younger 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 Cass County.
Who works in Cass County, and how
Work in Cass 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 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Cass County
Cass County has more parkland per resident than 78% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 68% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cass County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cass County growing, and who is moving in?
Cass County has grown about 21% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Fargo, ND metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cass County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cass County, month by month
Cass County sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 22, with lows near 3. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22° | 12° | 3° |
| April | 54° | 41° | 30° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 59° |
| October | 60° | 46° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Cass County
The nearest airport, Hector International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 222 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cass County
Schools across Cass County average a C+, better than 57% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Kindred Elementary SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Longfellow Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Bennett Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- Discovery Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Northern Cass Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- Heritage Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Kindred High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- North High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
- Northern Cass High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cass County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cass 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 Cass County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Cass County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 11% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 75% of counties and health care access beats 81%.
Common questions about living in Cass County
Is Cass County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cass County ranks 131st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on biking, population health, and walkability, and lowest on noise and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cass County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $313,080. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $88,671 median income, cost of living beats 88% of counties.
Is Cass County safe?
Yes, Cass County is safer than 85% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $344 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cass County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 22 with lows near 3. That works out to about 120 pleasant days a year, more than 75% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cass County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Horace, West Fargo, and Fargo. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Cass County good for families?
Schools beat 57% of counties, crime safety beats 85%, and childcare runs $948 a month.
Is Cass County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 67% of counties. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Cass County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cass County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cass 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.
Cass County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cass County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cass County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cass County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cass County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cass 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.