Best PlacesAkeley, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Akeley, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Akeley ranks 17,593rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Akeley
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.
Akeley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Akeley ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 136 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
- Short commute21.4 minutes each way, better than 82% of towns
Where Akeley ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,009 a month, better than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Akeley
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Akeley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,058, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Akeley's effective rate of 0.73%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Akeley
Akeley runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Akeley.
Who works in Akeley, and how
Work in Akeley centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Akeley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Akeley.
What the weather is like in Akeley, month by month
Akeley sees roughly 136 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 20, with lows near 2. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 11° | 2° |
| April | 51° | 40° | 30° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 55° | 45° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Akeley
The nearest airport, Bemidji Regional, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 164 miles away.
The best schools in and around Akeley
Schools across Akeley average a C, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Nevis ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- W.h.a. ElementaryC+ · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Nevis SecondaryB− · 45% proficient
- Walker-hackensack-akeley Sec.C− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Akeley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Akeley 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 Akeley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Akeley
Is Akeley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Akeley ranks 17,593rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, health care access, and low disaster risk, and lowest on empty homes and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Akeley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $238,102. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $72,058 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Akeley safe?
Yes, Akeley is safer than 79% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $226 per resident a year.
Compare Akeley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Akeley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Akeley 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.
Akeley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Akeley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Akeley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Akeley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Akeley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Akeley 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.