Best PlacesVelva, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Velva, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Velva ranks 8,808th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Velva
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.
Velva's strengths and weaknesses
Where Velva ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 150 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of towns
Where Velva ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 25% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 29% of towns
- Cheap childcare$945 a month, better than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Velva
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Velva home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,645, 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 Velva's effective rate of 0.76%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Velva
Velva's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Velva.
Who works in Velva, and how
Work in Velva centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Velva
Velva has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Velva and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Velva, month by month
Velva sees roughly 150 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 22, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22° | 13° | 5° |
| April | 51° | 38° | 28° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 58° |
| October | 52° | 41° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Velva
The nearest airport, Minot International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 427 miles away.
The best schools in and around Velva
Schools across Velva average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Velva Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Sawyer Elementary SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Velva High SchoolB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Velva school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Velva 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 Velva against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Velva
Is Velva a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Velva ranks 8,808th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and the weather, 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 Velva expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $213,947. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $85,645 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Velva safe?
Yes, Velva is safer than 79% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $277 per resident a year.
Compare Velva with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Velva. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Velva 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.
Velva detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Velva: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Velva: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Velva: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Velva: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Velva 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.