Best PlacesGwinner, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gwinner, 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.
Gwinner ranks 7,029th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gwinner
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.
Gwinner's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gwinner ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute13.1 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 91% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 85% of towns
Where Gwinner ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$973 a month, better than only 26% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 30% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gwinner
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gwinner home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,976, 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 Gwinner's effective rate of 1.02%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gwinner
Gwinner's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Gwinner.
Who works in Gwinner, and how
Work in Gwinner centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 22%
Life in Gwinner
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gwinner.
What the weather is like in Gwinner, month by month
Gwinner sees roughly 128 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 Gwinner
The nearest airport, Aberdeen Regional, is about 64 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 236 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gwinner
Schools across Gwinner average a B−, better than 55% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Oakes Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Lisbon Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- North Sargent Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lisbon Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- North Sargent High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Oakes High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Lisbon High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gwinner school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gwinner 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 Gwinner against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gwinner
Is Gwinner a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gwinner ranks 7,029th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, short commutes, and clean air, 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 Gwinner expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $200,797. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $78,976 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Gwinner safe?
Yes, Gwinner is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $302 per resident a year.
Compare Gwinner with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gwinner. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gwinner 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.
Gwinner detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gwinner: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gwinner: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gwinner: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gwinner: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gwinner 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.