Best PlacesDover, ID Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dover, 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.
Dover ranks 12,214th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dover
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.
Dover's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dover ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
Where Dover ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 15% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 21% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 24% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dover
A household needs to earn about $168,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dover home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $68,570, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Dover's effective rate of 0.42%, 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 Dover
Dover runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dover.
Who works in Dover, and how
Work in Dover centers on professional & technical and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Dover
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dover.
What the weather is like in Dover, month by month
Dover sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 29° | 26° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 68° | 52° |
| October | 56° | 44° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Dover
The nearest airport, Spokane International, is about 62 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Seattle-Tacoma International, about 270 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dover
Schools across Dover average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Washington Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Priest River Elementary SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Farmin Stidwell Elementary SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sandpoint Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Priest River Jr High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Sandpoint High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Priest River Lamanna HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dover school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dover 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 Dover against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dover
Is Dover a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dover ranks 12,214th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, low disaster risk, and civic engagement, and lowest on an overheated housing market 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 Dover expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $676,105. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $68,570 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Dover safe?
Yes, Dover is safer than 76% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $252 per resident a year.
Compare Dover with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dover. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dover 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.
Dover detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dover: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dover: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dover: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dover: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dover 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.