Best PlacesRawson, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rawson, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Rawson ranks 12,070th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Distance from a big city pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on high incomes.
The best neighborhoods in Rawson
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.
Rawson's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rawson ranks high
- Household income$109,142 median, better than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 139 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- QuietBetter than 85% of towns
Where Rawson ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 14% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rawson
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rawson home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $109,142, 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 Rawson's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rawson
Rawson'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 Rawson.
Who works in Rawson, and how
Work in Rawson centers on education and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Rawson
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rawson.
What the weather is like in Rawson, month by month
Rawson sees roughly 139 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 16° | 7° |
| April | 55° | 41° | 30° |
| July | 86° | 71° | 58° |
| October | 56° | 43° | 33° |
Flying in and out of Rawson
The nearest airport, Sidney-Richland Regional, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 532 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rawson
Schools across Rawson average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Horse Creek SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Alexander Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Badlands Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Alexander High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Watford City High SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rawson school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rawson 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 Rawson against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rawson
Is Rawson a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rawson ranks 12,070th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, the weather, and low taxes, 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 Rawson expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $299,126. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $109,142 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Rawson safe?
Rawson is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $524 per resident a year.
Compare Rawson with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rawson. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rawson 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.
Rawson detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rawson: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rawson: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rawson: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rawson: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rawson 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.