Best PlacesCayuga, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cayuga, 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.
Cayuga ranks 13,784th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cayuga
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.
Cayuga's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cayuga ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Short commute21.0 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 83% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 126 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of towns
Where Cayuga ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 11% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 25% of towns
- Cheap childcare$979 a month, better than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cayuga
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cayuga home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,531, 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 Cayuga's effective rate of 1.12%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cayuga
Cayuga 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 Cayuga.
Who works in Cayuga, and how
Work in Cayuga centers on agriculture & forestry and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Cayuga
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cayuga.
What the weather is like in Cayuga, month by month
Cayuga sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 21, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21° | 13° | 5° |
| April | 52° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 57° | 46° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Cayuga
The nearest airport, Hector International, is about 64 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 223 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cayuga
Schools across Cayuga average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lidgerwood Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Milnor Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Sargent Central Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Sargent Central High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Lidgerwood High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Milnor High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cayuga school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cayuga 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 Cayuga against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cayuga
Is Cayuga a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cayuga ranks 13,784th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low taxes, and short commutes, 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 Cayuga expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $160,735. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $77,531 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Cayuga safe?
Yes, Cayuga is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $338 per resident a year.
Compare Cayuga with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cayuga. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cayuga 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.
Cayuga detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cayuga: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cayuga: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cayuga: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cayuga: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cayuga 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.