Best PlacesGarrison, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Garrison, 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.
Garrison ranks 14,620th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Garrison
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.
Garrison's strengths and weaknesses
Where Garrison ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 138 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 88% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
Where Garrison ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 22% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 24% of towns
- Cheap childcare$954 a month, better than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Garrison
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Garrison home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,233, 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 Garrison's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Garrison
Garrison 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 Garrison.
Who works in Garrison, and how
Work in Garrison centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Garrison
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Garrison.
What the weather is like in Garrison, month by month
Garrison sees roughly 138 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 23, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23° | 13° | 5° |
| April | 53° | 39° | 28° |
| July | 84° | 70° | 58° |
| October | 56° | 43° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Garrison
The nearest airport, Minot International, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 438 miles away.
The best schools in and around Garrison
Schools across Garrison average a C−, better than 24% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bob Callies Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- North Shore Plaza Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Max Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Beulah Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- North Shore Plaza High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Max High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- White Shield High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Garrison school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Garrison 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 Garrison against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Garrison
Is Garrison a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Garrison ranks 14,620th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, health care access, and the weather, 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 Garrison expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $198,041. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $73,233 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Garrison safe?
Yes, Garrison is safer than 61% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $340 per resident a year.
Compare Garrison with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Garrison. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Garrison 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.
Garrison detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Garrison: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Garrison: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Garrison: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Garrison: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Garrison 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.