Best PlacesDrayton, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Drayton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Drayton ranks 13,722nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Drayton
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.
Drayton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Drayton ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute14.6 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
Where Drayton ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Drayton
A household needs to earn about $28,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Drayton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,147, 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 Drayton's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Drayton
Drayton 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 Drayton.
Who works in Drayton, and how
Work in Drayton centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Drayton
Drayton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Drayton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Drayton, month by month
Drayton sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 18, with lows near 2. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18° | 9° | 2° |
| April | 49° | 38° | 30° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 54° | 44° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Drayton
The nearest airport, Grand Forks International, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 317 miles away.
The best schools in and around Drayton
Schools across Drayton average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Valley-edinburg Elementary School-crystalA− · 57% proficient
- Valley-edinburg Elementary School-hoopleB · 50% proficient
- Cavalier Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Cavalier High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Valley-edinburg High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Drayton High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Drayton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Drayton 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 Drayton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Drayton
Is Drayton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Drayton ranks 13,722nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, short commutes, and clean air, 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 Drayton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $108,472. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $74,147 median income, cost of living beats 72% of towns.
Is Drayton safe?
Yes, Drayton is safer than 67% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $321 per resident a year.
Compare Drayton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Drayton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Drayton 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.
Drayton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Drayton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Drayton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Drayton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Drayton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Drayton 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.