Best PlacesVoltaire, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Voltaire, 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.
Voltaire ranks 17,408th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Noise pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Voltaire
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.
Voltaire's strengths and weaknesses
Where Voltaire ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 83% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 82% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 122 pleasant days a year, better than 81% of towns
Where Voltaire ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Voltaire
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Voltaire home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,625, 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 Voltaire'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 Voltaire
Voltaire'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 Voltaire.
Who works in Voltaire, and how
Work in Voltaire 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 Voltaire
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Voltaire.
What the weather is like in Voltaire, month by month
Voltaire sees roughly 122 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 Voltaire
The nearest airport, Minot International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 420 miles away.
The best schools in and around Voltaire
Schools across Voltaire average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Velva Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Velva High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Drake High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Voltaire school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Voltaire 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 Voltaire against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Voltaire
Is Voltaire a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Voltaire ranks 17,408th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, clean air, and state infrastructure, 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 Voltaire expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $210,400. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $85,625 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Voltaire safe?
Yes, Voltaire is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $273 per resident a year.
Compare Voltaire with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Voltaire. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Voltaire 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.
Voltaire detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Voltaire: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Voltaire: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Voltaire: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Voltaire: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Voltaire 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.