Best PlacesRamsey County, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Ramsey County, 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.
Ramsey County ranks 532nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ramsey County
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.
Ramsey County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ramsey County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- Short commute13.9 minutes each way, better than 97% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of counties
Where Ramsey County ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 27% of counties
- Cheap childcare$892 a month, better than only 29% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Ramsey County
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ramsey County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,730, 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 Ramsey County's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 Ramsey County
Ramsey County 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 Ramsey County.
Who works in Ramsey County, and how
Work in Ramsey County 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 87%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Ramsey County
Ramsey County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of counties and more parkland per resident than 93% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ramsey County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Ramsey County growing, and who is moving in?
Ramsey County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Grand Forks, ND.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Ramsey County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Ramsey County, month by month
Ramsey County 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 Ramsey County
The nearest airport, Devils Lake Regional, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 349 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ramsey County
Schools across Ramsey County average a C+, better than 54% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Edmore Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Lakota Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Dakota Prairie Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- North Star High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Leeds High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Starkweather High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ramsey County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ramsey County 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 Ramsey County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Ramsey County
Is Ramsey County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ramsey County ranks 532nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, a stable housing market, and short commutes, 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 Ramsey County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $214,333. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $74,730 median income, cost of living beats 60% of counties.
Is Ramsey County safe?
Ramsey County is safer than 39% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $465 per resident a year.
Compare Ramsey County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ramsey County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ramsey County 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.
Ramsey County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ramsey County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ramsey County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ramsey County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ramsey County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ramsey County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.