Best PlacesNiagara, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Niagara, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Niagara ranks 10,256th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Niagara
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.
Niagara's strengths and weaknesses
Where Niagara ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 87% of towns
Where Niagara ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 11% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Niagara
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Niagara home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $95,447, 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 Niagara'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 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 Niagara
Niagara 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 Niagara.
Who works in Niagara, and how
Work in Niagara centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Niagara
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Niagara.
What the weather is like in Niagara, month by month
Niagara sees roughly 121 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 19, with lows near 3. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 19° | 11° | 3° |
| April | 51° | 39° | 29° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 56° | 44° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Niagara
The nearest airport, Grand Forks International, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 308 miles away.
The best schools in and around Niagara
Schools across Niagara average a B−, better than 56% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Larimore Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Dakota Prairie Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Northwood Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Northwood High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Larimore High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Dakota Prairie High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Niagara school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Niagara 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 Niagara against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Niagara
Is Niagara a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Niagara ranks 10,256th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, what local pay buys, and low taxes, and lowest on disaster risk and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Niagara expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $213,111. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $95,447 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Niagara safe?
Yes, Niagara is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $190 per resident a year.
Compare Niagara with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Niagara. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Niagara 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.
Niagara detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Niagara: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Niagara: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Niagara: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Niagara: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Niagara 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.