Best PlacesLakota, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lakota, 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.
Lakota ranks 13,937th 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 Lakota
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.
Lakota's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lakota ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute18.9 minutes each way, better than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
Where Lakota ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 21% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 22% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lakota
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lakota home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,590, 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 Lakota's effective rate of 0.62%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lakota
Lakota'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 Lakota.
Who works in Lakota, and how
Work in Lakota centers on education and public administration. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Lakota
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lakota.
What the weather is like in Lakota, month by month
Lakota sees roughly 132 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 20, with lows near 0. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 10° | 0° |
| April | 50° | 37° | 26° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 58° |
| October | 55° | 43° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Lakota
The nearest airport, Devils Lake Regional, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 328 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lakota
Schools across Lakota average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lakota Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Dakota Prairie Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Lakota High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Dakota Prairie High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lakota school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lakota 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 Lakota against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lakota
Is Lakota a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lakota ranks 13,937th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, clean air, and health care access, and lowest on distance from a big city and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lakota expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $177,483. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $71,590 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Lakota safe?
Lakota is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $376 per resident a year.
Compare Lakota with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lakota. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lakota 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.
Lakota detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lakota: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lakota: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lakota: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lakota: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lakota 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.