Best PlacesBena, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bena, 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.
Bena ranks 45,078th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bena
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.
Bena's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bena ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 126 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of towns
Where Bena ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bena
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bena home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $48,603, 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 Bena's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bena
Bena runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bena.
Who works in Bena, and how
Work in Bena centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Bena
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bena.
What the weather is like in Bena, month by month
Bena sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 20, with lows near 2. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 11° | 2° |
| April | 50° | 39° | 29° |
| July | 79° | 68° | 58° |
| October | 53° | 44° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Bena
The nearest airport, Bemidji Regional, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 177 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bena
Schools across Bena average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bigfork ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- W.h.a. ElementaryC+ · 40% proficient
- Cass Lake-bena ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cass Lake-bena Middle SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Bigfork SecondaryC · 34% proficient
- Walker-hackensack-akeley Sec.C− · 29% proficient
- Cass Lake-bena SecondaryD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bena school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bena 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 Bena against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bena
Is Bena a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bena ranks 45,078th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, heat safety, and state infrastructure, and lowest on internet speeds and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bena expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $170,700. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $48,603 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Bena safe?
Bena is safer than 5% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $701 per resident a year.
Compare Bena with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bena. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bena 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.
Bena detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bena: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bena: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bena: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bena: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bena 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.