Best PlacesAlexandria, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Alexandria, 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.
Alexandria ranks 7,802nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Alexandria
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.
Alexandria's strengths and weaknesses
Where Alexandria ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute18.8 minutes each way, better than 91% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 146 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
Where Alexandria ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 18% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 26% of towns
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Alexandria
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Alexandria home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $78,431; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Alexandria's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 Alexandria
Alexandria 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 Alexandria.
Who works in Alexandria, and how
Work in Alexandria centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Alexandria
Alexandria has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of towns and more parkland per resident than 85% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Alexandria and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Alexandria, month by month
Alexandria sees roughly 146 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 21, with lows near 6. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21° | 13° | 6° |
| April | 53° | 42° | 33° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 57° | 47° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Alexandria
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 68 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 126 miles away.
The best schools in and around Alexandria
Schools across Alexandria average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Osakis ElementaryA+ · 74% proficient
- Miltona ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Garfield ElementaryA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Discovery Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Minnewaska Area Junior HighC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Alexandria Area High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Osakis SecondaryB · 46% proficient
- Minnewaska SecondaryB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Alexandria school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Alexandria 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 Alexandria against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Alexandria suits
Retirees
The weather beats 91% of towns and health care access beats 85%.
Common questions about living in Alexandria
Is Alexandria a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Alexandria ranks 7,802nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, state infrastructure, and short commutes, and lowest on noise and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Alexandria expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $326,814. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $78,431 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is Alexandria safe?
Yes, Alexandria is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $253 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Alexandria?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 21 with lows near 6. That works out to about 146 pleasant days a year, more than 91% of towns.
Is Alexandria good for families?
Schools beat 75% of towns, crime safety beats 72%, and childcare runs $948 a month.
Compare Alexandria with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Alexandria. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Alexandria 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.
Alexandria detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Alexandria: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Alexandria: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Alexandria: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Alexandria: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Alexandria 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.