Best PlacesWales, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wales, 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.
Wales ranks 10,697th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wales
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.
Wales' strengths and weaknesses
Where Wales ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 138 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
Where Wales ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wales
A household needs to earn about $28,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wales home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $92,188, 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 Wales' effective rate of 0.93%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wales
Wales'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 Wales.
Who works in Wales, and how
Work in Wales 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 82%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Wales
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wales.
What the weather is like in Wales, month by month
Wales sees roughly 138 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 18, with lows near 2. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18° | 10° | 2° |
| April | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 53° | 43° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Wales
The nearest airport, Devils Lake Regional, is about 53 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 375 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wales
Schools across Wales average a B+, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Langdon Area Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Langdon Area High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wales school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wales 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 Wales against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wales
Is Wales a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wales ranks 10,697th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, a stable housing market, and health care access, 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 Wales expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $106,600. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $92,188 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Wales safe?
Wales is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $421 per resident a year.
Compare Wales with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wales. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wales 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.
Wales detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wales: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wales: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wales: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wales: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wales 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.