LivingCostFacts / state

North Dakota cost of living

North Dakota has an all-items price parity of 89.0 on the U.S. = 100 scale. Compare the statewide picture with county rents and metro price levels.

BEA 2024 · HUD FY2027 · ACS 2020–2024 · CPI through 2026-10

89.0
All-items price level

BEA 2024; U.S. = 100

$76,657
Median household income

ACS 2020–2024

$249,900
Median home value

Owner-occupied homes, ACS 2020–2024

$1,102
Typical 2BR benchmark

Population-weighted county FMR, FY2027

Read the local picture

Regional Price Parities (RPPs) compare prices across places in the same year. An index of 110 means prices are 10% above the U.S. level; 90 means 10% below. RPP measures relative price levels, while CPI measures price change over time.

North Dakota: RPP components

BEA 2024 regional context; each category is compared with its own U.S. = 100 benchmark. These are not county price estimates or spending shares.

  1. All items89.0
  2. Goods95.7
  3. Housing rents71.4
  4. Utilities73.7
  5. Other services91.2
0100.0

Black marker: U.S. benchmark = 100 in each row.

Put the benchmark in context

Fair Market Rent (FMR) is HUD’s estimate of the 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality rental homes occupied by recent movers. It includes rent and most tenant-paid utilities. A household’s actual rent can differ substantially by neighborhood, lease and property.

Monthly rent by bedroom

HUD FY2027 gross monthly FMR; includes most tenant-paid utilities. Dollars per month.

  1. Studio$847
  2. 1 bedroom$911
  3. 2 bedrooms$1,102
  4. 3 bedrooms$1,502
  5. 4 bedrooms$1,789
0$1,789

Income after benchmark rent is $63,437 a year: ACS median household income minus 12 months of the population-weighted 2BR FMR. This is a comparison between separate datasets and periods, before taxes and all other expenses; it is not disposable income.

The data in view

Price levels relative to the U.S.

BEA RPP, U.S. = 100 each year. This is not an inflation index.

View chart data
Period or categoryValue
200885.9
200987.9
201089.1
201189.5
201292.0
201392.2
201492.5
201591.1
201691.6
201788.7
201891.2
201993.2
202091.8
202191.0
202288.7
202388.2
202489.0

Price levels by category

Each category has its own U.S. benchmark of 100. Components are indexes, not spending shares.

Category2024 RPP
All items89.0
Goods95.7
Housing rents71.4
Utilities73.7
Other services91.2

Monthly Fair Market Rent by bedroom

HUD 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality units; includes tenant-paid utilities except telephone, cable and internet. These are benchmarks, not asking-rent medians.

Home sizeFY2027 monthly gross rent
Studio$847
1 bedroom$911
2 bedrooms$1,102
3 bedrooms$1,502
4 bedrooms$1,789

County cost comparison

Income: ACS 2020–2024. Rent: HUD FY2027. Rent / income = 12 × 2BR FMR ÷ median household income; it does not measure actual renter burden.

County or equivalent2BR rent / monthMedian household incomeRent / income
Adams County$1,014$62,50019.5%
Barnes County$1,139$68,03820.1%
Benson County$1,014$64,03319.0%
Billings County$1,014$86,80614.0%
Bottineau County$1,014$85,00014.3%
Bowman County$1,014$72,10916.9%
Burke County$1,014$91,59113.3%
Burleigh County$1,067$86,85114.7%
Cass County$1,104$75,55517.5%
Cavalier County$1,014$69,53117.5%
Dickey County$1,014$68,65417.7%
Divide County$1,858$91,85224.3%
Dunn County$1,130$97,68913.9%
Eddy County$1,014$50,85023.9%
Emmons County$1,014$66,53818.3%
Foster County$1,014$87,83113.9%
Golden Valley County$1,233$68,02121.8%
Grand Forks County$1,014$68,07517.9%
Grant County$1,014$57,87521.0%
Griggs County$1,014$61,71119.7%
Hettinger County$1,102$73,02618.1%
Kidder County$1,024$65,61018.7%
LaMoure County$1,014$80,66415.1%
Logan County$1,133$62,75021.7%
McHenry County$1,014$80,73315.1%
McIntosh County$1,014$64,41918.9%
McKenzie County$1,577$93,40420.3%
McLean County$1,014$83,58314.6%
Mercer County$1,290$80,94619.1%
Morton County$1,067$79,38216.1%
Mountrail County$1,356$80,71720.2%
Nelson County$1,014$67,19318.1%
Oliver County$1,067$77,24016.6%
Pembina County$1,014$68,39317.8%
Pierce County$1,014$59,36520.5%
Ramsey County$1,014$61,00619.9%
Ransom County$1,042$75,73616.5%
Renville County$1,014$74,30116.4%
Richland County$1,014$75,43216.1%
Rolette County$1,111$59,51722.4%
Sargent County$1,080$77,94616.6%
Sheridan County$1,078$62,63920.7%
Sioux County$1,014$42,08328.9%
Slope County$1,078$71,25018.2%
Stark County$1,231$84,44917.5%
Steele County$1,014$77,50015.7%
Stutsman County$1,014$61,85619.7%
Towner County$1,014$67,35018.1%
Traill County$1,014$87,00414.0%
Walsh County$1,014$71,94416.9%
Ward County$1,049$78,23816.1%
Wells County$1,014$66,11418.4%
Williams County$1,388$85,59519.5%

Metros with member counties in North Dakota

BEA 2024, U.S. = 100. Rent is a population-weighted mean of member-county benchmarks where available.

Metro areaAll-items RPPHousing RPP2BR rent / month
Bismarck, ND91.084.0$1,067
Fargo, ND-MN90.981.1$1,104
Grand Forks, ND-MN86.759.7$1,014
Minot, ND87.063.2$1,046