Best PlacesKelso, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kelso, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Kelso ranks 6,535th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Kelso
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.
Kelso's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kelso ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of towns
- Household income$108,958 median, better than 89% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 89% of towns
Where Kelso ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kelso
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kelso home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $108,958, 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 Kelso's effective rate of 0.65%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Kelso
Kelso runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kelso.
Who works in Kelso, and how
Work in Kelso centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Kelso
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Kelso.
What the weather is like in Kelso, month by month
Kelso sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 22, with lows near 3. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22° | 12° | 3° |
| April | 54° | 41° | 30° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 59° |
| October | 60° | 46° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Kelso
The nearest airport, Hector International, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 248 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kelso
Schools across Kelso average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Northern Cass Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northern Cass Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Northern Cass High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Hillsboro High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kelso school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kelso 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 Kelso against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kelso
Is Kelso a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kelso ranks 6,535th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, health care access, and what local pay buys, and lowest on biking and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kelso expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $248,700. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $108,958 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is Kelso safe?
Kelso is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $434 per resident a year.
Compare Kelso with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kelso. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kelso 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.
Kelso detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kelso: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kelso: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kelso: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kelso: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kelso 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.