Best PlacesTappen, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tappen, 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.
Tappen ranks 34,560th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Tappen
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.
Tappen's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tappen ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 165 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 84% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 83% of towns
Where Tappen ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tappen
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tappen home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,188, 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 Tappen's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Tappen
Tappen 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 Tappen.
Who works in Tappen, and how
Work in Tappen centers on agriculture & forestry and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 36%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Tappen
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Tappen.
What the weather is like in Tappen, month by month
Tappen sees roughly 165 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 21, with lows near 4. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21° | 12° | 4° |
| April | 51° | 38° | 29° |
| July | 83° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 56° | 43° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Tappen
The nearest airport, Jamestown Regional, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 336 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tappen
Schools across Tappen average a B−, better than 55% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- S.g. Reinertsen ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
- Napoleon Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Kidder County Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Horizon Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Gackle-streeter High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Moorhead High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Napoleon High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tappen school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tappen 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 Tappen against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tappen
Is Tappen a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tappen ranks 34,560th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low taxes, and a stable housing market, and lowest on noise 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 Tappen expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $187,242. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $63,188 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Tappen safe?
Tappen is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $374 per resident a year.
Compare Tappen with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tappen. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tappen 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.
Tappen detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tappen: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tappen: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tappen: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tappen: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tappen 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.