Fargo, North Dakota.
Typical home $321,568 (+4.1% in a year), asking rent $1,094 (+3.4%). Fargo, ND-MN metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$768 (+84%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $12,670 +4%
- $308,898$321,568 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $57,126 +22%
- $264,442$321,568 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Fargo$1,688
- North Dakota$1,526
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 18 years.
Typical home values in Fargo, ND rose 4.1% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in Fargo, ND rose 3.4% over the past year — faster than the nation's +2.7%.
Owning the typical home in Fargo runs $1,259/mo more than renting one — the widest that gap has been in this data.
That is $2,353 a month against $1,094 rent: a $1,688 mortgage payment, plus $320 property tax and $344 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — Fargo
The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.
- Owning all in$2,353
- Renting$1,094
- Mortgage only$1,688
Property tax · $320/mo 1.20% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for Cass County, ND
Insurance & upkeep · $344/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.
Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.
Living in Fargo, Cass County, North Dakota
Fargo is a city of 125,990 people in Cass County. Half its households earn more than $66,998 a year and half less, against $75,555 across Cass County; 13% of its people live below the poverty line. 44% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 56% are rented. Unemployment in Fargo was 2.1% in August 2026, and Cass County had 0.5% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Fargo is North Dakota's largest city, and it has a young feel: residents are younger than in most of the country, and a good many hold a four-year degree. Most households rent rather than own, and incomes run below the county's overall. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month and temperatures often below freezing, while July is pleasantly warm; the year brings a moderate amount of rain and melted snow.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with shops, professional and business services, and manufacturing also employing a good share. The biggest workplaces in town are Sanford Medical Center - Fargo, North Dakota State University and Fargo 1 Schools. Unemployment is low and has eased a little over the past year, commutes are short, and some residents work from home.
Things to do. The Fargodome, a large stadium, is a short drive away, and Newman Outdoor Field, a ballpark, is in or beside town. For art and film, the Plains Art Museum and the Fargo Theatre are both in or beside town. The Red River Zoo is also close at hand.
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- 59,970households
- 43%of adults have a degree
- 13%below the poverty line
- 16 mintypical commute
- 10%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Cass County had 128,690 jobs in 2025, 0.5% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 17° and lows near -2°; warmest in July, with highs near 82° and lows near 60°. About 24 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Fargo 3S weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Fargo
- Sanford Medical Center - FargoGeneral hospital6,178FTE
- North Dakota State UniversityUniversity or college2,532
- Fargo 1 SchoolsSchool district1,947FTE
- Innovis HealthGeneral hospital1,858FTE
- Veterans Health AdministrationFederal government · Department of Veterans Affairs1,204
- ND,Fargo-South University Hospital-General Medical And Surgical HospitalsGeneral medical and surgical hospitals1,076
- Marvin Windows and Doors - FargoWood window and door manufacturing914
- CNH AmericaTractors and attachments, farm-type, manufacturing828
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 202 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 30,861 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023), colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24), school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Winter weatherVery high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- Hailrelatively high in parts of FargoRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesrelatively high in parts of FargoRelatively moderate
- Tornadoesrelatively high in parts of FargoRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Fargo’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Cass County and the Fargo, ND-MN metro.
Fargo home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Fargo$321,568
- North Dakota$290,657
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Fargo listings, and the typical home goes pending in 28 days — the market is heating up.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Fargo26.45%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Fargo28
- United States27
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Fargo442
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Fargo126
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Fargo$294,501
- United States$371,407
Sale-to-list ratio
Above 100%, homes sell over asking; below, buyers negotiate wins.
- Fargo99.35%
Zip codes with a Fargo address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Fargo — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.
Zip codes in Fargo
| Zip activate to sort by Zip | Place activate to sort by Place | Population sorted descending, activate to sort ascending | Rent activate to sort by Rent | Home value activate to sort by Home value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58104 | Fargo | 49,168 | $1,266 | $406,824 |
| 58103 | Fargo | 48,796 | $873 | $267,918 |
| 58102 | Fargo | 32,912 | $1,077 | $272,218 |