Most Expensive Places To Live In North Dakota For 2020

The 10 Most Expensive Places To Live In North Dakota For 2020

1. Grand Forks

Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the State of North Dakota and is the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2010 census, the city's population was 52,838, while the total of the city and surrounding metropolitan area was 98,461. Grand Forks, along with its twin city of East Grand Forks, Minnesota, forms the center of the Grand Forks, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is often called Greater Grand Forks or The Grand Cities.

The median income in Grand Forks comes in at $47,871 and the median home value is $197,900 for 2020.

2. Fargo

Fargo is the most populous city in the state of North Dakota, accounting for nearly 16% of the state population. Fargo is also the county seat of Cass County. According to the 2016 United States Census estimates, its population was 120,762, making it the 229th-most populous city in the United States. Fargo, along with its twin city of Moorhead, Minnesota, as well as the adjacent cities of West Fargo, North Dakota and Dilworth, Minnesota, form the core of the Fargo-Moorhead, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in 2016 contained a population of 238,124. In 2014, Forbes magazine ranked Fargo as the fourth fastest-growing small city in the United States.

The median income in Fargo comes in at $53,309 and the median home value is $199,700 for 2020.

3. Bismarck

Bismarck is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the second-most populous city in North Dakota after Fargo. The city's population was estimated in 2016 at 72,417, while its metropolitan population was 131,635. In 2015, Forbes magazine ranked Bismarck as the seventh fastest-growing small city in the United States.

The median income in Bismarck comes in at $63,608 and the median home value is $234,500 for 2020.

4. Minot

Minot MY-not) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base located approximately 15 miles north of the city. With a population of 40,888 at the 2010 census, Minot is the fourth largest city in the state and a trading center for a large portion of northern North Dakota, southwestern Manitoba, and southeastern Saskatchewan. Founded in 1886 during the construction of the Great Northern Railway, Minot is also known as "Magic City", commemorating its remarkable growth in size over a short time.

The median income in Minot comes in at $65,350 and the median home value is $204,000 for 2020.

5. Mandan

The median income in Mandan comes in at $64,122 and the median home value is $207,100 for 2020.

The median income in Lincoln comes in at $78,445 and the median home value is $227,800 for 2020.

7. Dickinson

Dickinson is a city in Stark County, North Dakota, United States. It is the county seat of Stark County. The population was 17,787 at the 2010 census. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated 2015 population is 23,765.

The median income in Dickinson comes in at $73,025 and the median home value is $235,300 for 2020.

The median income in Surrey comes in at $86,250 and the median home value is $208,900 for 2020.

The median income in Watford City comes in at $79,844 and the median home value is $201,700 for 2020.

The median income in Rugby comes in at $39,083 and the median home value is $117,700 for 2020.

How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Peace Garden State For 2020

The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:

1. How much do money do I make?
2. How much do I have spend to live there?

You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.

For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing it's actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.

With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2014-2018 around incomes and costs. They are:

• Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
• Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
• Median Home Price

We added simply median home price because high home prices generally correlate with higher expenses for all costs related to homes (heating, electricity, etc).

You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in North Dakota to figure out which is the most expensive.

What you are left with is a "Cost of Living Index" by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.

So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 51 places in North Dakota that have more than 1,000 people.

The place with the highest cost of living in North Dakota according to the data is Grand Forks. You can download the data here.