Living in Fargo, ND

Crime in Fargo runs a bit below the national average. The violent crime index is 74 (100 is the U.S. baseline), with property crime at 139. That puts it in a decent spot — not the safest metro in the country, but meaningfully better than the midpoint. Neighborhood choice still matters, especially if you have kids or walk home late. FBI Uniform Crime Report data.

Rent in Fargo is genuinely cheap relative to what people earn here. Median rent is $916/month and median household income is $66,029/year — that's a 16.6% rent-to-income ratio, which is rare in today's housing market. Lower demand, cheaper land, or strong local wages could all be factors. Whatever the cause, your dollar stretches further here than in most places. Census ACS 2023.

Short. The average commute in Fargo clocks in at just 15 minutes, which is well below the national average. 78.7% of workers drive solo, and 8.1% work from home. Short commutes mean more time for everything else — it's one of the quieter advantages of living here.

Everything on this page is built from public government sources: rent and income figures from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS 5-Year Estimates, 2023); commute and transportation data from Census ACS tables B08303 and B08006; crime rates from the FBI Uniform Crime Report. We refresh each dataset monthly through an automated pipeline and cross-check for anomalies. No surveys, no user-submitted guesses — just official federal data presented in a way that's actually useful for people researching a move.