Best PlacesWatford City, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Watford City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Watford City ranks 10,011th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Watford City
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.
Watford City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Watford City ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$110,643 median, better than 90% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
Where Watford City ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,063 a month, better than only 21% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Watford City
A household needs to earn about $101,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Watford City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $110,643, 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 Watford City's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Watford City
Watford City runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Watford City.
Who works in Watford City, and how
Work in Watford City centers on mining & oil & gas and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Watford City
Watford City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of towns and more parkland per resident than 89% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Watford City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Watford City, month by month
Watford City sees roughly 140 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 16° | 7° |
| April | 55° | 41° | 30° |
| July | 86° | 71° | 58° |
| October | 56° | 43° | 33° |
Flying in and out of Watford City
The nearest airport, Williston Basin International, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 519 miles away.
The best schools in and around Watford City
Schools across Watford City average a C, better than 33% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fox Hills Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Badlands Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Killdeer Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Watford City Middle SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- New Town Middle SchoolF · 6% proficient
Top high schools
- Killdeer High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Wolves Center AcademyD+ · 25% proficient
- Alexander High SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Watford City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Watford City 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 Watford City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Watford City
Is Watford City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Watford City ranks 10,011th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, cell coverage, and population health, 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 Watford City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $394,431. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $110,643 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Watford City safe?
Watford City is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $532 per resident a year.
Compare Watford City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Watford City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Watford City 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.
Watford City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Watford City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Watford City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Watford City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Watford City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Watford City 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.