Best PlacesMilton, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Milton, 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.
Milton ranks 31,588th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Milton
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.
Milton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Milton ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute18.5 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 142 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
Where Milton ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$44,689 median, better than only 7% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Milton
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Milton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $44,689, 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 Milton's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 Milton
Milton 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 Milton.
Who works in Milton, and how
Work in Milton centers on transportation & warehousing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Milton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Milton.
What the weather is like in Milton, month by month
Milton sees roughly 142 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 18, with lows near 1. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18° | 9° | 1° |
| April | 49° | 38° | 29° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 59° |
| October | 53° | 43° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Milton
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 345 miles away.
The best schools in and around Milton
Schools across Milton average a B−, better than 62% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Edmore Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Valley-edinburg Elementary School-crystalA− · 57% proficient
- Valley-edinburg Elementary School-hoopleB · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Valley-edinburg High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Langdon Area High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Milton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Milton 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 Milton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Milton
Is Milton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Milton ranks 31,588th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, health care access, and short commutes, and lowest on distance from a big city and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Milton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $100,864. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $44,689 median income, cost of living beats 16% of towns.
Is Milton safe?
Milton is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $560 per resident a year.
Compare Milton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Milton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Milton 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.
Milton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Milton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Milton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Milton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Milton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Milton 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.