Best PlacesBeaver, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Beaver, 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.
Beaver ranks 10,574th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Beaver
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.
Beaver's strengths and weaknesses
Where Beaver ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 137 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 87% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 79% of towns
Where Beaver ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 14% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Beaver
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Beaver home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,358, 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 Beaver's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Beaver
Beaver runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Beaver.
Who works in Beaver, and how
Work in Beaver centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Beaver
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Beaver.
What the weather is like in Beaver, month by month
Beaver sees roughly 137 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 57° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Beaver
The nearest airport, Rochester International, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Beaver
Schools across Beaver average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Plainview-elgin-millville Pk-3A · 65% proficient
- Lewiston-altura ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Wabasha-kellogg ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Plainview-elgin-millville JuniorA− · 54% proficient
- Lewiston-altura Intermediate ElB+ · 52% proficient
- Winona MiddleC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Plainview-elgin-millville HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Wabasha-kellogg SecondaryB+ · 52% proficient
- St. Charles SecondaryB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Beaver school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Beaver 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 Beaver against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Beaver
Is Beaver a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Beaver ranks 10,574th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, the weather, and health care access, and lowest on internet speeds and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Beaver expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $331,441. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $90,358 median income, cost of living beats 72% of towns.
Is Beaver safe?
Yes, Beaver is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $220 per resident a year.
Compare Beaver with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Beaver. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Beaver 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.
Beaver detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Beaver: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Beaver: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Beaver: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Beaver: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Beaver 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.