Best PlacesAfton, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Afton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Afton ranks 1,293rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Afton
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Afton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Afton ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$143,395 median, better than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
Where Afton ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,682 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
- TransitBetter than only 44% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 44% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Afton
A household needs to earn about $180,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Afton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $143,395, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Afton's effective rate of 0.82%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Afton
Afton runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Afton.
Who works in Afton, and how
Work in Afton centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Afton
Afton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Afton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Afton, month by month
Afton sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 19° | 13° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 37° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Afton
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 20 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 17.5 million passengers in 2025, with 195 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Afton
Schools across Afton average a B+, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Andersen ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Afton-lakeland ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Pinecrest ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lake Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Oak-land Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Hastings Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- East Ridge High SchoolA · 71% proficient
- Stillwater Area High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
- Hastings High SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Afton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Afton measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Afton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Afton
Is Afton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Afton ranks 1,293rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, civic engagement, and what local pay buys, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Afton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $687,099. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $143,395 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Afton safe?
Yes, Afton is safer than 88% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $192 per resident a year.
Compare Afton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Afton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Afton represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Afton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Afton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Afton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Afton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Afton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Afton detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.