Best PlacesFinley, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Finley, 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.
Finley ranks 7,819th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Finley
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.
Finley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Finley ranks high
- Short commute17.1 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Finley ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 13% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Finley
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Finley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,713, 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 Finley's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Finley
Finley 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 Finley.
Who works in Finley, and how
Work in Finley centers on agriculture & forestry and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Finley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Finley.
What the weather is like in Finley, month by month
Finley sees roughly 121 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 18, with lows near 1. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18° | 9° | 1° |
| April | 49° | 38° | 29° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 55° | 44° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Finley
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 285 miles away.
The best schools in and around Finley
Schools across Finley average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Finley-sharon Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Peter Boe Jr Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- May-port Cg Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Finley-sharon High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- May-port Cg High SchoolC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Finley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Finley 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 Finley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Finley
Is Finley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Finley ranks 7,819th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, fast internet, and walkability, and lowest on tree cover and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Finley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $130,546. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $80,713 median income, cost of living beats 76% of towns.
Is Finley safe?
Finley is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $386 per resident a year.
Compare Finley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Finley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Finley 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.
Finley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Finley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Finley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Finley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Finley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Finley 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.