Best PlacesGriffin, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Griffin, 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.
Griffin ranks 15,976th 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 Griffin
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.
Griffin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Griffin ranks high
- Short commute17.6 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 139 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 83% of towns
Where Griffin ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cheap childcare$972 a month, better than only 27% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Griffin
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Griffin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,840, 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 Griffin's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Griffin
Griffin 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 Griffin.
Who works in Griffin, and how
Work in Griffin centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Griffin
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Griffin.
What the weather is like in Griffin, month by month
Griffin sees roughly 139 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 18° | 7° |
| April | 58° | 41° | 26° |
| July | 89° | 71° | 54° |
| October | 61° | 44° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Griffin
The nearest airport, Dickinson/Theodore Roosevelt Regional, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 442 miles away.
The best schools in and around Griffin
Schools across Griffin average a B−, better than 63% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rhame Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Bowman Co Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Bowman Co High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Griffin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Griffin 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 Griffin against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Griffin
Is Griffin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Griffin ranks 15,976th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, the weather, and low taxes, and lowest on tree cover and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Griffin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $154,709. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $73,840 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Griffin safe?
Griffin is safer than 41% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $421 per resident a year.
Compare Griffin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Griffin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Griffin 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.
Griffin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Griffin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Griffin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Griffin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Griffin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Griffin 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.