Best PlacesWild Rice, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wild Rice, 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.
Wild Rice ranks 398th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wild Rice
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.
Wild Rice's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wild Rice ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$225,592 median, better than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
Where Wild Rice ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wild Rice
A household needs to earn about $108,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wild Rice home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $225,592, 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 Wild Rice's effective rate of 1.26%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Wild Rice
Wild Rice runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wild Rice.
Who works in Wild Rice, and how
Work in Wild Rice centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Wild Rice
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wild Rice.
What the weather is like in Wild Rice, month by month
Wild Rice sees roughly 140 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 20, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 12° | 5° |
| April | 51° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 57° | 46° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Wild Rice
The nearest airport, Hector International, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 215 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wild Rice
Schools across Wild Rice average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bennett Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
- Kennedy Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Discovery Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
Top high schools
- Fargo Davies High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wild Rice school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wild Rice 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 Wild Rice against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wild Rice
Is Wild Rice a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wild Rice ranks 398th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on disaster risk and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wild Rice expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $390,300. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $225,592 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Wild Rice safe?
Yes, Wild Rice is safer than 87% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $243 per resident a year.
Compare Wild Rice with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wild Rice. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wild Rice 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.
Wild Rice detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wild Rice: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wild Rice: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wild Rice: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wild Rice: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wild Rice 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.