Best PlacesBenton County, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Benton County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Benton County ranks 788th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Benton 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.
The best areas in Benton County
The parts of Benton County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Rice
More households have young kids, incomes run higher, and more residents vote.
Sauk Rapids & Sartell
Tree cover is thicker, though it is noisier.
Foley
Fewer homes sit empty, though crime runs higher.
St. Cloud
Biking is better, though local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Benton County run from about the 5th to the 84th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Benton County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Benton County ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 94% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 91% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 91% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 84% of counties
Where Benton County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 8% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,079 a month, better than only 13% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 15% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 24% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Benton County
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Benton County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,987, 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 Benton County's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Benton County
Benton County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Benton County.
Who works in Benton County, and how
Work in Benton County 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 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Benton County
Benton County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Benton County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Benton County growing, and who is moving in?
Benton County has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the St Cloud, MN metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Benton County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Benton County, month by month
Benton County sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 23, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23° | 15° | 7° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 33° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 58° | 47° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Benton County
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 67 miles away.
The best schools in and around Benton County
Schools across Benton County average a B−, better than 70% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Riverview Intermediate SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Foley ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Pioneer ElementaryA− · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sartell MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- Foley Intermediate ElementaryB+ · 48% proficient
- Princeton Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Sartell Senior HighA− · 63% proficient
- Sauk Rapids-rice Senior HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Princeton High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Benton County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Benton 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 Benton County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Benton County suits
Retirees
The weather beats 74% of counties and health care access beats 71%.
Common questions about living in Benton County
Is Benton County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Benton County ranks 788th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on few empty homes, heat safety, and civic engagement, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Benton County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $262,356. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $79,987 median income, cost of living beats 69% of counties.
Is Benton County safe?
Yes, Benton County is safer than 80% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $340 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Benton County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 23 with lows near 7. That works out to about 120 pleasant days a year, more than 74% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Benton County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Rice, Sauk Rapids & Sartell, and Foley. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Benton County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Benton County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Benton 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.
Benton County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Benton County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Benton County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Benton County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Benton County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Benton 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.