Best PlacesTurtle Lake, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Turtle Lake, 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.
Turtle Lake ranks 11,294th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Turtle Lake
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.
Turtle Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Turtle Lake ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
Where Turtle Lake ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 27% of towns
- Cheap childcare$954 a month, better than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Turtle Lake
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Turtle Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,177, 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 Turtle Lake's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Turtle Lake
Turtle Lake 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 Turtle Lake.
Who works in Turtle Lake, and how
Work in Turtle Lake 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 75%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Turtle Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Turtle Lake.
What the weather is like in Turtle Lake, month by month
Turtle Lake sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 21, with lows near 3. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21° | 12° | 3° |
| April | 50° | 37° | 27° |
| July | 82° | 69° | 57° |
| October | 53° | 41° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Turtle Lake
The nearest airport, Bismarck Municipal, is about 52 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 409 miles away.
The best schools in and around Turtle Lake
Schools across Turtle Lake average a B−, better than 63% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Turtle Lake-mercer Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Washburn Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Underwood Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Washburn High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Turtle Lake-mercer High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Underwood High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Turtle Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Turtle Lake 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 Turtle Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Turtle Lake
Is Turtle Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Turtle Lake ranks 11,294th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, health care access, and cell coverage, 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 Turtle Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $193,147. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $76,177 median income, cost of living beats 61% of towns.
Is Turtle Lake safe?
Yes, Turtle Lake is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $334 per resident a year.
Compare Turtle Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Turtle Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Turtle Lake 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.
Turtle Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Turtle Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Turtle Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Turtle Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Turtle Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Turtle Lake 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.