Best PlacesBeltrami County, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Beltrami County, 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.
Beltrami County ranks 1,374th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Beltrami County
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.
Beltrami County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Beltrami County ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 91% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 139 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 86% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 80% of counties
Where Beltrami County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,119 a month, better than only 10% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 11% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 21% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 24% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Beltrami County
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Beltrami County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,965, 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 Beltrami County's effective rate of 0.79%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Beltrami County
Beltrami County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Beltrami County.
Who works in Beltrami County, and how
Work in Beltrami County centers on health care & social and retail trade. 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 Beltrami County
Beltrami County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Beltrami County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Beltrami County growing, and who is moving in?
Beltrami County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Minneapolis, MN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Beltrami County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Beltrami County, month by month
Beltrami County sees roughly 139 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 19, with lows near 1. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 19° | 10° | 1° |
| April | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| July | 80° | 68° | 57° |
| October | 53° | 43° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Beltrami County
The nearest airport, Bemidji Regional, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 203 miles away.
The best schools in and around Beltrami County
Schools across Beltrami County average a C, better than 43% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Lincoln ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Northern ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Gene Dillon Elementary SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bemidji MiddleB− · 39% proficient
- Trek North Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Red Lake Middle Level AlcD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Bemidji Senior HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Voyageurs Expeditionary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Blackduck SecondaryC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Beltrami County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Beltrami County 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 Beltrami County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Beltrami County suits
Common questions about living in Beltrami County
Is Beltrami County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Beltrami County ranks 1,374th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on heat safety, state infrastructure, and the weather, and lowest on childcare costs 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 Beltrami County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $229,997. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $72,965 median income, cost of living beats 52% of counties.
Is Beltrami County safe?
Beltrami County is safer than 21% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $482 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Beltrami County?
July highs average about 80 degrees, and January highs near 19 with lows near 1. That works out to about 139 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of counties.
Is Beltrami County good for families?
Schools beat 43% of counties, crime safety beats 21%, and childcare runs $1,119 a month.
Compare Beltrami County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Beltrami County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Beltrami County 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.
Beltrami County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Beltrami County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Beltrami County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Beltrami County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Beltrami County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Beltrami County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.