Best PlacesGriggs County, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Griggs County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Griggs County ranks 799th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Griggs County
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.
Griggs County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Griggs County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of counties
- Short commute16.3 minutes each way, better than 93% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of counties
Where Griggs County ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 15% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 16% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Griggs County
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Griggs County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,297, 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 Griggs County's effective rate of 0.44%, 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 Griggs County
Griggs County 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 Griggs County.
Who works in Griggs County, and how
Work in Griggs County centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Griggs County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Griggs County.
Is Griggs County growing, and who is moving in?
Griggs County has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Fargo, ND.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Griggs County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Griggs County, month by month
Griggs County sees roughly 142 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 Griggs County
The nearest airport, Jamestown Regional, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 296 miles away.
The best schools in and around Griggs County
Schools across Griggs County average a B−, better than 71% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Barnes County North Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Finley-sharon Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Climax ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Griggs County Central High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Finley-sharon High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Dakota Prairie High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Griggs County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Griggs County 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 Griggs County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Griggs County
Is Griggs County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Griggs County ranks 799th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, a stable housing market, and short commutes, and lowest on empty homes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Griggs County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $119,573. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $61,297 median income, cost of living beats 47% of counties.
Is Griggs County safe?
Yes, Griggs County is safer than 84% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $310 per resident a year.
Compare Griggs County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Griggs County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Griggs County 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.
Griggs County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Griggs County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Griggs County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Griggs County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Griggs County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Griggs County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.