Best PlacesFort Yates, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fort Yates, 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.
Fort Yates ranks 46,311th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Yates
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.
Fort Yates' strengths and weaknesses
Where Fort Yates ranks high
- Short commute12.1 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 88% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
Where Fort Yates ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Yates
A household needs to earn about $25,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Yates home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $38,695, 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 Fort Yates' effective rate of 0.23%, 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 Fort Yates
Fort Yates runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fort Yates.
Who works in Fort Yates, and how
Work in Fort Yates centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Fort Yates
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fort Yates.
What the weather is like in Fort Yates, month by month
Fort Yates sees roughly 134 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 Fort Yates
The nearest airport, Bismarck Municipal, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 369 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fort Yates
Schools across Fort Yates average a D+, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Linton Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Strasburg Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Browns Valley ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fort Yates Middle SchoolF · 6% proficient
Top high schools
- Strasburg High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Moorhead High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Linton High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Yates school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Yates 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 Fort Yates against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fort Yates
Is Fort Yates a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Yates ranks 46,311th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, low property taxes, and a stable housing market, and lowest on thin health care access and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fort Yates expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $105,615. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $38,695 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Fort Yates safe?
Fort Yates is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,132 per resident a year.
Compare Fort Yates with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Yates. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Yates 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.
Fort Yates detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Yates: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Yates: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Yates: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Yates: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Yates 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.