Thompson, North Dakota.
Typical home $408,276 (+12.0% in a year). Grand Forks, ND-MN metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$974 (+83%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $43,714 +12%
- $364,562$408,276 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $37,153 +10%
- $371,123$408,276 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.
- Thompson$2,143
- North Dakota$1,526
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 36 years.
Typical home values in Thompson, ND rose 12.0% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Thompson, Grand Forks County, North Dakota
Thompson is a city of 1,101 people in Grand Forks County. Half its households earn more than $118,281 a year and half less, against $68,075 across Grand Forks County; 2% of its people live below the poverty line. 94% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 6% are rented. Unemployment in Grand Forks County was 1.9% in August 2026, and the county had 0.9% 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Thompson is a small city in Grand Forks County where nearly everyone owns the home they live in. Household incomes run well above the county's, and very few residents live below the poverty line. Many adults hold a four-year degree, and the commute to work is a short one. Winters are long and cold, with January the coldest month and plenty of snow through the season, while July brings warm days and the year's mildest weather.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with others in shops, the building trades and government. Across Grand Forks County, some of the largest workplaces are Altru Health System-altru Hospital, the University of North Dakota and Grand Forks 1 Schools. Unemployment in the county is low, and the county has added a few more jobs than it had the year before.
Things to do. The Alerus Center, a stadium, is a short drive away. Farther afield, a longer drive reaches the Red River State Recreation Area, a protected area along the river, and the North Dakota Museum of Art. The Chester Fritz Auditorium, a theatre, is also a longer drive away.
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- 427households
- 44%of adults have a degree
- 2%below the poverty line
- 21 mintypical commute
- 8%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Grand Forks County had 41,078 jobs in 2025, 0.9% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 15° and lows near -1°; warmest in July, with highs near 80° and lows near 59°. About 49 inches of snow and 23 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Grand Forks Univ (nws) weather station, 10 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Grand Forks County
- Altru Health System-altru HospitalGeneral hospital3,261FTE
- University of North DakotaUniversity or college2,953
- Grand Forks 1 SchoolsSchool district1,346FTE
- LM Wind Power : Grand ForksGas turbine generator set units manufacturing569
- Development HomesGroup homes, intellectual and developmental disability384
- TargetDiscount department stores382
- JR Simplot CoFrozen fruit, juice and vegetable manufacturing381
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters347
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 93 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 11,266 people in all across the county; Thompson has two of its own. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023), colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); 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
- HailRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Thompson’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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 Grand Forks County and the Grand Forks, ND-MN metro.
Thompson home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Thompson$408,276
- North Dakota$290,657
- United States$366,157
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
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Thompson7
Zip codes with a Thompson address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Thompson — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.