Best PlacesAlbert Lea, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Albert Lea, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Albert Lea ranks 17,387th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Albert Lea
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.
Albert Lea's strengths and weaknesses
Where Albert Lea ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 202 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute18.0 minutes each way, better than 93% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
Where Albert Lea ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 28% of towns
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Albert Lea
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Albert Lea home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,556, 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 Albert Lea's effective rate of 1.20%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Albert Lea
Albert Lea 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 Albert Lea.
Who works in Albert Lea, and how
Work in Albert Lea centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Albert Lea
Albert Lea has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns and more parkland per resident than 93% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Albert Lea and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Albert Lea, month by month
Albert Lea sees roughly 202 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 17° | 11° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Albert Lea
The nearest airport, Mason City Municipal, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 85 miles away.
The best schools in and around Albert Lea
Schools across Albert Lea average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lakeview ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- United South Central ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
- Alden-conger ElementaryB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- I.j. Holton Intermediate SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Southwest MiddleC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Alden-conger SecondaryC+ · 40% proficient
- United South Central High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Austin Senior HighC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Albert Lea school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Albert Lea 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 Albert Lea against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Albert Lea
Is Albert Lea a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Albert Lea ranks 17,387th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on noise and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Albert Lea expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $163,242. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $69,556 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Albert Lea safe?
Albert Lea is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $410 per resident a year.
Compare Albert Lea with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Albert Lea. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Albert Lea 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.
Albert Lea detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Albert Lea: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Albert Lea: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Albert Lea: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Albert Lea: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Albert Lea 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.