Loading
Assembling your view…
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Finding the right city for a family isn't just about cheap rent — it's about income, healthcare, schools, and room to grow. We scored 1 cities in North Dakota on the metrics families care about, and Fargo comes out on top with a cost index of 64, median income of $66,029, and a healthcare index of 9…
#1 Ranked: Fargo — cost index 64, rent $1,096/mo, income $66,029
Family-weighted scoring: income $66,029, healthcare index 93, population 133,188 — balancing career, care, and schools
Data sourced from Census Bureau, Zillow, BLS, and Tax Foundation — current as of 2026
Finding the right city for a family isn't just about cheap rent — it's about income, healthcare, schools, and room to grow. We scored 1 cities in North Dakota on the metrics families care about, and Fargo comes out on top with a cost index of 64, median income of $66,029, and a healthcare index of 93 (and that gap widens if you factor in state taxes).
Dive into Fargo's numbers: cost index 64 (47 points below national average), rent $1,096/month, income $66,029, and a home price of $312,872. The city's cost profile isn't flat — Housing is the cheapest category at 64, while Healthcare runs 93. With 133,188 residents, it balances mid-size city convenience with manageable costs (not adjusted for inflation, but still telling).
Our family scoring model prioritizes four dimensions: household income above $60K (supporting a family-sized budget), cost index under 100 (keeping daily expenses manageable), healthcare index under 110 (critical for pediatric care and family premiums), and population above 200K (ensuring access to quality schools and youth programs). And broadly, fargo leads because it scores across all four (not adjusted for inflation, but still telling).
The trade-off becomes clearer when you add healthcare into the mix. State context matters: North Dakota's 1 cities average a 64 cost index with $1,096/month — make of that what you will — median rent and $66,029 household income. Oil-patch wages in a low-cost market. The city profiles tell the rest of the story.
What to do with this data: use the ranking as a shortlist, then dig into the city profiles for trend lines and category breakdowns. The difference between #1 and #5 is often smaller than the difference between "good on paper" and "actually fits my life." Compare your top picks with our calculator to see real take-home numbers (not adjusted for inflation, but still telling).
133,188 residents · North Dakota
Why Fargo ranks #1: the numbers tell a clear story. And in practical terms, at 64 on the cost index, residents save roughly 47% less than the typical American. Rent sits at $1,096/month while the median household pulls in $66,029/year. The Housing category is particularly strong at 64, though Healthcare (93) lags behind. Home prices average $312,872 — $154,498 below the national median (though the trend is moving in the right direction).
Our persona scoring model weights cost, income, rent, healthcare, taxes, and city size based on what matters most to families. Each factor scores 10-25 points out of a 100-point composite. The guide ranks every tracked city in North Dakota by this personalized metric. All data is sourced from federal agencies and verified research institutions. Cost of living indices are normalized to 100 (national median) using Zillow rent as the primary signal, with sub-category adjustments derived from regional BLS price data. Rankings are updated monthly as new data is released.
Fargo ranks #1 in North Dakota for this analysis with a cost index of 64 and median income of $66,029.
Fargo scores highest for families due to its below-average cost of living, median rent of $1,096/mo, and competitive median income of $66,029.
Our cost of living index uses real Zillow rent data as the foundation, indexed to 100 (national median). Sub-categories (housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare) are derived from the overall index with regional adjustments. Data is updated monthly.
City data is refreshed monthly from Census Bureau population estimates, Zillow rent and home price indices, BLS salary data, and Tax Foundation tax rates. Last updated: 2026.
The median 1-bedroom rent in Fargo is $1,096/month as of 2026, based on Zillow's Observed Rent Index. This is $799 below the national median of $1,895/month.
The median home price in Fargo is $312,872, which is 4.7× the local median income. It's on the edge of affordability for median-income households. The national median home price is $467,370.
North Dakota has a 1.95% state income tax rate. Combined state and local sales tax averages 7.04%, and the effective property tax rate is 0.94%.
This ranking was generated using data current as of early 2026. Population and income data comes from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (5-year estimates). Rent and home price data is from Zillow's monthly releases. Tax rates are from the Tax Foundation's 2025 edition. Rankings are refreshed monthly.