Best PlacesAnoka, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Anoka, 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.
Anoka ranks 4,021st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Anoka
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.
Anoka's strengths and weaknesses
Where Anoka ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
Where Anoka ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,682 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 31% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Anoka
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Anoka home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,495, 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 Anoka's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 Anoka
Anoka 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 Anoka.
Who works in Anoka, and how
Work in Anoka centers on health care & social and manufacturing. 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 Anoka
Anoka has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Anoka and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Anoka, month by month
Anoka sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 19° | 12° |
| April | 56° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 84° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 60° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Anoka
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 24 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 Anoka
Schools across Anoka average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Crooked Lake ElementaryB+ · 54% proficient
- Franklin ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Wilson ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Anoka Middle School For The ArtsB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Anoka High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Secondary Virtual SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Anoka school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Anoka 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 Anoka against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Anoka
Is Anoka a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Anoka ranks 4,021st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and transit, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Anoka expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $312,575. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $85,495 median income, cost of living beats 77% of towns.
Is Anoka safe?
Yes, Anoka is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $250 per resident a year.
Compare Anoka with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Anoka. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Anoka 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.
Anoka detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Anoka: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Anoka: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Anoka: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Anoka: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Anoka 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.