Best PlacesWilliston, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Williston, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Williston ranks 599th of 2,098 U.S. cities 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 Williston
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.
Williston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Williston ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of cities
- Short commute18.2 minutes each way, better than 93% of cities
- School gradeA, better than 92% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 85% of cities
Where Williston ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 1% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 3% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 32% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Williston
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Williston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,039, 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 Williston's effective rate of 0.70%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Williston
Williston runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Williston.
Who works in Williston, and how
Work in Williston centers on mining & oil & gas and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Williston
Williston has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Williston and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Williston, month by month
Williston sees roughly 142 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 Williston
The nearest airport, Williston Basin International, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 544 miles away.
The best schools in and around Williston
Schools across Williston average an A, better than 92% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Little Powder ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Alexander Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Badlands Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Sheridan High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Sundance Secondary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Ray High SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Williston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Williston 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 Williston against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Williston suits
Common questions about living in Williston
Is Williston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Williston ranks 599th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on heat safety, short commutes, and good schools, and lowest on distance from a big city and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Williston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $326,178. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $91,039 median income, cost of living beats 64% of cities.
Is Williston safe?
Williston is safer than 37% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $445 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Williston?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 25 with lows near 7. That works out to about 142 pleasant days a year, more than 80% of cities.
Is Williston good for families?
Schools beat 92% of cities, crime safety beats 37%, and childcare runs $1,022 a month.
Compare Williston with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Williston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Williston 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.
Williston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Williston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Williston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Williston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Williston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Williston 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.