Best PlacesDickinson, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dickinson, 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.
Dickinson ranks 784th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Dickinson
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.
Dickinson's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dickinson ranks high
- Short commute16.4 minutes each way, better than 97% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 85% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 83% of cities
Where Dickinson ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 1% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 36% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Dickinson
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dickinson home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,063, 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 Dickinson's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 Dickinson
Dickinson runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dickinson.
Who works in Dickinson, and how
Work in Dickinson centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Dickinson
Dickinson has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of cities and more parkland per resident than 87% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Dickinson and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dickinson, month by month
Dickinson sees roughly 130 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 18° | 7° |
| April | 56° | 40° | 26° |
| July | 87° | 70° | 55° |
| October | 60° | 44° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Dickinson
The nearest airport, Dickinson/Theodore Roosevelt Regional, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 480 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dickinson
Schools across Dickinson average a B+, better than 70% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Little Powder ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Tongue River ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Taylor-richardton Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tongue River Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
- Dickinson Middle SchoolB+ · 47% proficient
- Central MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Sheridan High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Tongue River High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- East Grand Forks Senior HighB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dickinson school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dickinson 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 Dickinson against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Dickinson suits
Common questions about living in Dickinson
Is Dickinson a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dickinson ranks 784th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on short commutes, cell coverage, and heat safety, and lowest on distance from a big city and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dickinson expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $300,622. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $84,063 median income, cost of living beats 49% of cities.
Is Dickinson safe?
Yes, Dickinson is safer than 55% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $377 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Dickinson?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 30 with lows near 7. That works out to about 130 pleasant days a year, more than 74% of cities.
Is Dickinson good for families?
Schools beat 70% of cities, crime safety beats 55%, and childcare runs $973 a month.
Compare Dickinson with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dickinson. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dickinson 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.
Dickinson detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dickinson: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dickinson: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dickinson: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dickinson: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dickinson 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.