Best PlacesJamestown, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Jamestown, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Jamestown ranks 17,957th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Jamestown
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.
Jamestown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Jamestown ranks high
- Short commute11.6 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 145 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
Where Jamestown ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Jamestown
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Jamestown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $62,647; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Jamestown's effective rate of 1.27%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Jamestown
Jamestown'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 Jamestown.
Who works in Jamestown, and how
Work in Jamestown centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Jamestown
Jamestown has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of towns and more parkland per resident than 91% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Jamestown and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Jamestown, month by month
Jamestown sees roughly 145 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 22, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22° | 13° | 5° |
| April | 52° | 40° | 30° |
| July | 84° | 71° | 60° |
| October | 57° | 45° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Jamestown
The nearest airport, Jamestown Regional, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 298 miles away.
The best schools in and around Jamestown
Schools across Jamestown average a B, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Barnes County North Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Louis L'amour Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Pingree-buchanan Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jamestown Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- Horizon Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Medina High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Moorhead High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Jamestown High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Jamestown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Jamestown 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 Jamestown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Jamestown
Is Jamestown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Jamestown ranks 17,957th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on air quality 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 Jamestown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $225,935. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $62,647 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Jamestown safe?
Jamestown is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $498 per resident a year.
Compare Jamestown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Jamestown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Jamestown 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.
Jamestown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Jamestown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Jamestown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Jamestown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Jamestown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Jamestown 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.