Best PlacesEmmons County, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Emmons County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Emmons County ranks 1,057th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Emmons County
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.
Emmons County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Emmons County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- QuietBetter than 90% of counties
- Short commute19.3 minutes each way, better than 83% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 82% of counties
Where Emmons County ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 11% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 12% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Emmons County
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Emmons County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,408, 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 Emmons County's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Emmons County
Emmons County 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 Emmons County.
Who works in Emmons County, and how
Work in Emmons County centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Emmons County
Emmons County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Emmons County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Emmons County growing, and who is moving in?
Emmons County has lost about 6% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Fargo, ND.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Emmons County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Emmons County, month by month
Emmons County sees roughly 129 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 14° | 5° |
| April | 54° | 40° | 29° |
| July | 85° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 60° | 46° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Emmons County
The nearest airport, Bismarck Municipal, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 352 miles away.
The best schools in and around Emmons County
Schools across Emmons County average a B, better than 75% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Linton Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Napoleon Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Strasburg Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Zeeland High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Strasburg High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Hazelton-moffit-braddock High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Emmons County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Emmons County 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 Emmons County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Emmons County
Is Emmons County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Emmons County ranks 1,057th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, a stable housing market, and quiet, 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 Emmons County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $116,484. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $65,408 median income, cost of living beats 48% of counties.
Is Emmons County safe?
Yes, Emmons County is safer than 74% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $344 per resident a year.
Compare Emmons County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Emmons County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Emmons County 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.
Emmons County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Emmons County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Emmons County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Emmons County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Emmons County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Emmons County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.