Best PlacesRolette County, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Rolette County, 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.
Rolette County ranks 2,334th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rolette 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.
Rolette County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rolette County ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of counties
- Short commute16.8 minutes each way, better than 91% of counties
- QuietBetter than 91% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 85% of counties
Where Rolette County ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of counties
- School gradeD, better than only 7% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Rolette County
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rolette County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,644, 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 Rolette County's effective rate of 0.31%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rolette County
Rolette County runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rolette County.
Who works in Rolette County, and how
Work in Rolette County centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Rolette County
Rolette County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Rolette County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Rolette County growing, and who is moving in?
Rolette County has lost about 21% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Towner County, ND.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Rolette County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Rolette County, month by month
Rolette County sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 77 degrees. January highs sit near 18, with lows near 1. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18° | 9° | 1° |
| April | 47° | 36° | 27° |
| July | 77° | 66° | 56° |
| October | 51° | 41° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Rolette County
The nearest airport, Devils Lake Regional, is about 65 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 414 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rolette County
Schools across Rolette County average a D, better than 7% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Kittson Central ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Rugby Ely Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- North Star Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Turtle Mountain Community Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Turtle Mountain Middle SchoolF · 7% proficient
Top high schools
- Rolette High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- North Star High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Mt Pleasant High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rolette County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rolette 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 Rolette County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Rolette County
Is Rolette County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rolette County ranks 2,334th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low property taxes, heat safety, and short commutes, and lowest on crime and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rolette County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $108,694. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $67,644 median income, cost of living beats 30% of counties.
Is Rolette County safe?
Rolette County is safer than 3% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $939 per resident a year.
Compare Rolette County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rolette County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rolette 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.
Rolette County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rolette County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rolette County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rolette County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rolette County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rolette 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.