Best PlacesGrafton, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Grafton, 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.
Grafton ranks 9,013th 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 Grafton
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.
Grafton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Grafton ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Short commute16.2 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of towns
Where Grafton ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Grafton
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Grafton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,256, 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 Grafton's effective rate of 1.04%, 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 Grafton
Grafton 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 Grafton.
Who works in Grafton, and how
Work in Grafton centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Grafton
Grafton has more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Grafton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Grafton, month by month
Grafton sees roughly 122 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 Grafton
The nearest airport, Grand Forks International, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 315 miles away.
The best schools in and around Grafton
Schools across Grafton average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Argyle ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Kittson Central ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Valley-edinburg Elementary School-crystalA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Valley-edinburg High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Stephen Senior HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Midway High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Grafton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Grafton 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 Grafton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Grafton
Is Grafton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Grafton ranks 9,013th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, clean air, and biking, and lowest on distance from a big city and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Grafton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $137,169. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $64,256 median income, cost of living beats 45% of towns.
Is Grafton safe?
Yes, Grafton is safer than 65% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $333 per resident a year.
Compare Grafton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Grafton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Grafton 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.
Grafton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Grafton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Grafton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Grafton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Grafton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Grafton 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.