Best PlacesSarles, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sarles, 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.
Sarles ranks 14,836th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sarles
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.
Sarles' strengths and weaknesses
Where Sarles ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 141 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 86% of towns
Where Sarles ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sarles
A household needs to earn about $24,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sarles home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,887, 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 Sarles' effective rate of 0.85%, 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 Sarles
Sarles runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sarles.
Who works in Sarles, and how
Work in Sarles centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Sarles
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sarles.
What the weather is like in Sarles, month by month
Sarles sees roughly 141 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 Sarles
The nearest airport, Devils Lake Regional, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 391 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sarles
Schools across Sarles average a B+, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Munich Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Mt Pleasant Elementary SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Munich High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Mt Pleasant High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sarles school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sarles 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 Sarles against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sarles
Is Sarles a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sarles ranks 14,836th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, clean air, and the weather, 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 Sarles expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $91,459. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $85,887 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Sarles safe?
Sarles is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $465 per resident a year.
Compare Sarles with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sarles. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sarles 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.
Sarles detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sarles: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sarles: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sarles: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sarles: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sarles 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.