Best PlacesHeaton, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Heaton, 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.
Heaton ranks 21,097th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Heaton
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.
Heaton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Heaton ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 148 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 87% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 83% of towns
Where Heaton ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Heaton
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Heaton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,972, 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 Heaton's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 Heaton
Heaton 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 Heaton.
Who works in Heaton, and how
Work in Heaton centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Heaton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Heaton.
What the weather is like in Heaton, month by month
Heaton sees roughly 148 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 21, with lows near 6. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21° | 13° | 6° |
| April | 49° | 38° | 30° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 60° |
| October | 55° | 44° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Heaton
The nearest airport, Devils Lake Regional, is about 53 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 351 miles away.
The best schools in and around Heaton
Schools across Heaton average a C+, better than 45% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fessenden-bowdon Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- East Grand Forks Senior HighB− · 43% proficient
- Fessenden-bowdon High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Heaton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Heaton 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 Heaton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Heaton
Is Heaton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Heaton ranks 21,097th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, the weather, and low taxes, and lowest on distance from a big city and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Heaton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $103,700. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $70,972 median income, cost of living beats 76% of towns.
Is Heaton safe?
Heaton is safer than 31% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $473 per resident a year.
Compare Heaton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Heaton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Heaton 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.
Heaton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Heaton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Heaton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Heaton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Heaton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Heaton 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.