Best PlacesGuelph, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Guelph, 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.
Guelph ranks 10,286th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Guelph
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.
Guelph's strengths and weaknesses
Where Guelph ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute19.7 minutes each way, better than 89% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 87% of towns
Where Guelph ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 11% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Guelph
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Guelph home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,000, 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 Guelph's effective rate of 0.62%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Guelph
Guelph 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 Guelph.
Who works in Guelph, and how
Work in Guelph centers on agriculture & forestry and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Guelph
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Guelph.
What the weather is like in Guelph, month by month
Guelph sees roughly 130 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 21, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21° | 13° | 5° |
| April | 52° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 57° | 46° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Guelph
The nearest airport, Aberdeen Regional, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 258 miles away.
The best schools in and around Guelph
Schools across Guelph average a B, better than 70% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ellendale Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Oakes Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Ellendale High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Oakes High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Guelph school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Guelph 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 Guelph against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Guelph
Is Guelph a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Guelph ranks 10,286th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, a stable housing market, and short commutes, and lowest on a weak job market and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Guelph expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $158,600. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $75,000 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Guelph safe?
Yes, Guelph is safer than 87% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $245 per resident a year.
Compare Guelph with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Guelph. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Guelph 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.
Guelph detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Guelph: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Guelph: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Guelph: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Guelph: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Guelph 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.