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Place dossier plate
SheetND-WILLISTON-ND · Williston, ND 27,964 pop · income 66th pct · 8 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Williston
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Williston on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Henderson · lowest
47,176
Henderson · lowest
47,176 median HH income
40.3% of the leader · rank #1
Howland Center · near
84,306
Howland Center · near
84,306 median HH income
72.0% of the leader · rank #2
Germantown · near
84,307
Germantown · near
84,307 median HH income
72.0% of the leader · rank #3
Williston · this city
84,309
Williston · this city
84,309 median HH income
72.0% of the leader · rank #4
Rural Hill · near
84,310
Rural Hill · near
84,310 median HH income
72.0% of the leader · rank #5
Mebane · near
84,312
Mebane · near
84,312 median HH income
72.0% of the leader · rank #6
Danvers · highest
117,072
Danvers · highest
117,072 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Williston on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 27,964.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Williston - the verdict
Nationally, Williston sits in the 66th percentile for household income and the 19th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
66th
percentile, household income
58th
percentile, home value
7th
percentile, median rent
19th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Williston, ND
27,964 people live in Williston, North Dakota - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Williston brings in $84,309 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 5.5%. Typical homes in Williston are valued around $262,700, and the median resident age is 31.9 years. 25.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 73.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 61 residential building permits were authorized in Williston (Growing), up 11% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Williston's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 2752.6 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
Living costs in North Dakota run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts North Dakota at 89.0 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $965 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $200 across North Dakota, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 22.2 out of 100 (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Williston's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from population change to comparison shortlist to housing and income to reported crime to schools and households to within-city variation to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Williston, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Population change
Is Williston growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +216 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 61 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Williston?
Within North Dakota, the closest population matches are Dickinson (25,216 residents, $76,964 income); Mandan (24,293 residents, $75,966 income); West Fargo (39,325 residents, $96,877 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Maryland Heights, MO (27,981 residents); Winchester, VA (27,981 residents); Henderson, KY (27,994 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
How far does income reach against housing in Williston?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Williston?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2752.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 21% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
2315.2
Violent rate
437.3
Total reported rate
2752.6
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the education layer cover for Williston?
The NCES join finds 13 public schools within the city match. 25.7% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
13
Bachelor's degree+
25.7%
Poverty estimate
5.5%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Williston?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 83.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.3%
Work from home
2.6%
Drive alone
83.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 14,829 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 5.5% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
89.0 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, North Dakota average
C
City profile score · Williston, ND
58/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A
89.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income C+
$84,309
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate C+
5.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C-
25.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
437 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Williston profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 89/100 (A) · 89.0 index
Household income: 64/100 (C+) · $84,309
Poverty rate: 62/100 (C+) · 5.5%
Bachelor's+ share: 51/100 (C-) · 25.7%
Violent crime: 20/100 (F) · 437 /100k
Where Williston sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Williston's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Williston highlighted among 13 peers.Read the chart values
Williston, ND (this city): home $262,700, crime 2,753/100k
Maryland Heights, MO : home $215,300, crime 1,499/100k
Winchester, VA : home $325,900, crime 2,567/100k
Henderson, KY : home $151,400, crime 2,134/100k
New Iberia, LA : home $150,300, crime 4,135/100k
Danvers, MA : home $611,200, crime 1,618/100k
Milford, MA : home $429,800, crime 1,188/100k
Dickinson, ND : home $252,400, crime 2,003/100k
Mandan, ND : home $246,300, crime 2,869/100k
West Fargo, ND : home $302,200, crime 1,178/100k
Jamestown, ND : home $192,500, crime 1,342/100k
Minot, ND : home $254,400, crime 1,722/100k
Wahpeton, ND : home $164,600, crime 2,427/100k
How does Williston compare to other US cities?
Here's how Williston stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income66% higher than other cities
Home value58% pricier than other cities
Median rent7% pricier than other cities
Safety19% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at North Dakota, Williston ranks #19 of 21 North Dakota cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Williston against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to North Dakota only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
North Dakota-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Williston near the bottom of North Dakota's cities
Among the 246 North Dakota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Williston ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Williston only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#52 of 227
77th percentile in North Dakota
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 246
0th percentile in North Dakota
Median Home Value
#21 of 226
91st percentile in North Dakota
Poverty Rate
#121 of 246
51st percentile in North Dakota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#78 of 246
68th percentile in North Dakota
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within North Dakota only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
66th percentile nationally for median household income · 19th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Williston's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Williston's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Williston's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$262,70042nd percentilemore affordable than 42% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Williston's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,260 of 15,516
More affordable than 53% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,066 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.1×, Williston sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,260 of 15,516 and #1,066 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$84,309Williston, ND median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Williston, ND median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Williston, ND.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)25.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)73.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
27,964
Median Income
$84,309
Median Home Value
$262,700
Median Age
31.9
Poverty Rate
5.5%
Labor force participation
73.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
25.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2752.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
437.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2315.2
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
13
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Williston's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
29,306 residents
2021
27,355 residents
2022
26,908 residents
2023
27,781 residents
2024
28,822 residents
2025
29,522 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Growing
Total Permits (2024)
61
housing units authorized
Single-Family
59
detached homes
Multifamily
2
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
55
55
0
$14.0M
2020
36
36
0
$9.6M
2021
32
32
0
$11.7M
2022
35
29
6
$11.8M
2023
29
29
0
$12.8M
2024
61
59
2
$19.7M
Permit volume increased 11% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
83.4%
Carpool
9.8%
Public Transit
0.3%
Walk
2.9%
Work from Home
2.6%
Other
1.0%
Based on 14,829 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
North Dakota statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $200
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across North Dakota at $200 (electricity about $90 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are North Dakota statewide averages, not a meter reading for Williston. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
North Dakota's BEA cost-of-living index is 89.0 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Williston is $965/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to North Dakota statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 22.2 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a North Dakota statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Williston sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Williston compares to similar-size North Dakota cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.