Turtle Lake, North Dakota.
Typical home $135,605 (+7.3% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$267 (+60%) since Feb 2022.
- 1 year
- Up $9,249 +7%
- $126,357$135,605 since Sep 2025
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.
- Turtle Lake$712
- North Dakota$1,526
- United States$1,922
Typical home values in Turtle Lake, ND rose 7.3% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Turtle Lake, McLean County, North Dakota
Turtle Lake is a city of 542 people in McLean County. Half its households earn more than $67,639 a year and half less, against $83,583 across McLean County; 12% of its people live below the poverty line. 81% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 19% are rented. Unemployment in McLean County was 2.0% in August 2026, and the county had 3.7% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in McLean County work in schools and health care, then farming.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Turtle Lake is a small city on the North Dakota plains, home to a community that is among the smaller ones in the state. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and typical home values are modest. Household incomes run below the county's, and winters are long and cold, with January the coldest month and plenty of snow, while July brings real summer warmth.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with many others in farming, forestry and mining, in transport, warehouses and utilities, and in the building trades. Across McLean County, some of the largest workplaces are Rainbow Energy Center, Garrison 51 Schools and Washburn 4 Schools. Unemployment in the county is low and has eased a little over the past year, and the county has added jobs. Few people work from home, and a typical commute is a modest one.
Things to do. The closest outing is Lake Nettie National Wildlife Refuge, a protected area a short drive away. A longer drive leads to Lake Sakakawea, a large reservoir, and to Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, an archaeological site tied to the long history of the Hidatsa people along the Missouri River. Fort Stevenson State Park, also a longer drive away, is another protected area to explore.
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- 236households
- 22%of adults have a degree
- 12%below the poverty line
- 22 mintypical commute
- 8%work from home
What people in McLean County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. McLean County had 3,531 jobs in 2025, 3.7% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 20° and lows near 1°; warmest in July, with highs near 83° and lows near 56°. About 44 inches of snow and 18 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Turtle Lake weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in McLean County
- Rainbow Energy CenterElectric power generation, fossil fuel220
- Garrison 51 SchoolsSchool district65FTE
- Washburn 4 SchoolsSchool district60FTE
- Benedictine Living Community - GarrisonSkilled nursing facilities56
- Harvestone Low Carbon PartnersEthyl alcohol, nonpotable, manufacturing53
- Wilton 1 SchoolsSchool district51FTE
- Underwood 8 SchoolsSchool district50FTE
- White Shield 85 SchoolsSchool district49FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 8 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 581 people in all across the county; Turtle Lake has two of its own. School districts come 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
- Cold wavesVery high
- HailVery high
- Ice stormsVery high
- Strong windVery high
- TornadoesVery high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Turtle Lake’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very high. 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 McLean County.
Turtle Lake home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Turtle Lake$135,605
- 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.
- Turtle Lake5
Zip codes with a Turtle Lake address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Turtle Lake — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.