Best PlacesDevils Lake, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Devils Lake, 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.
Devils Lake ranks 10,926th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Devils Lake
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.
Devils Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Devils Lake ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute12.3 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
Where Devils Lake ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Devils Lake
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Devils Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,752, 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 Devils Lake's effective rate of 1.06%, 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 Devils Lake
Devils Lake'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 Devils Lake.
Who works in Devils Lake, and how
Work in Devils Lake centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Devils Lake
Devils Lake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of towns and more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Devils Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Devils Lake, month by month
Devils Lake sees roughly 132 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 20, with lows near 0. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 10° | 0° |
| April | 50° | 37° | 26° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 58° |
| October | 55° | 43° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Devils Lake
The nearest airport, Devils Lake Regional, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 349 miles away.
The best schools in and around Devils Lake
Schools across Devils Lake average a C+, better than 47% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Edmore Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Lakota Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Sweetwater Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Starkweather High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Lakota High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Devils Lake High SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Devils Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Devils Lake 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 Devils Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Devils Lake
Is Devils Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Devils Lake ranks 10,926th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, fast internet, and short commutes, and lowest on distance from a big city and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Devils Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $212,655. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $68,752 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Devils Lake safe?
Devils Lake is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $452 per resident a year.
Compare Devils Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Devils Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Devils Lake 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.
Devils Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Devils Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Devils Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Devils Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Devils Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Devils Lake 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.