Best PlacesShell Valley, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shell Valley, 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.
Shell Valley ranks 38,267th of 50,333 U.S. towns 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 Shell Valley
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.
Shell Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shell Valley ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute18.1 minutes each way, better than 93% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 138 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
Where Shell Valley ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 4% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shell Valley
A household needs to earn about $22,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shell Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,786, 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 Shell Valley's effective rate of 0.01%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Shell Valley
Shell Valley 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 Shell Valley.
Who works in Shell Valley, and how
Work in Shell Valley centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Shell Valley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shell Valley.
What the weather is like in Shell Valley, month by month
Shell Valley sees roughly 138 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 Shell Valley
The nearest airport, Devils Lake Regional, is about 63 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 412 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shell Valley
Schools across Shell Valley average a D−, better than 4% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Turtle Mountain Community Elementary SchoolF · 9% proficient
- Ojibwa Indian SchoolF · 3% proficient
Top middle schools
- Turtle Mountain Community Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Turtle Mountain Community High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shell Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shell Valley 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 Shell Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shell Valley
Is Shell Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shell Valley ranks 38,267th of 50,333 towns. 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 Shell Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $95,800. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $61,786 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Shell Valley safe?
Shell Valley is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,076 per resident a year.
Compare Shell Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shell Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shell Valley 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.
Shell Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shell Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shell Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shell Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shell Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shell Valley 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.