Best PlacesPark River, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Park River, 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.
Park River ranks 7,370th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Park River
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.
Park River's strengths and weaknesses
Where Park River ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute16.2 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 91% of towns
Where Park River ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 24% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 28% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Park River
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Park River home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,871, 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 Park River's effective rate of 1.15%, 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 Park River
Park River 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 Park River.
Who works in Park River, and how
Work in Park River centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Park River
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Park River.
What the weather is like in Park River, month by month
Park River sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 18, with lows near 2. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18° | 9° | 2° |
| April | 49° | 38° | 30° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 54° | 44° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Park River
The nearest airport, Grand Forks International, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 324 miles away.
The best schools in and around Park River
Schools across Park River average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Argyle ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Kittson Central ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Valley-edinburg Elementary School-crystalA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Valley-edinburg High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Park River Area High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Stephen Senior HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Park River school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Park River 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 Park River against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Park River
Is Park River a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Park River ranks 7,370th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, a stable housing market, and cell coverage, and lowest on distance from a big city and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Park River expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $141,955. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $70,871 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Park River safe?
Park River is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $483 per resident a year.
Compare Park River with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Park River. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Park River 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.
Park River detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Park River: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Park River: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Park River: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Park River: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Park River 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.