Best PlacesBig Lake, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Big Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Big Lake ranks 2,339th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Big Lake
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.
Big Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Big Lake ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
Where Big Lake ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Short commute32.8 minutes each way, better than only 21% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,041 a month, better than only 22% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Big Lake
A household needs to earn about $95,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Big Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $117,639, 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 Big Lake's effective rate of 0.95%, 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 Big Lake
Big Lake 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 Big Lake.
Who works in Big Lake, and how
Work in Big Lake centers on manufacturing and health care & social. 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 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Big Lake
Big Lake has more parkland per resident than 81% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Big Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Big Lake, month by month
Big Lake sees roughly 122 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 16° | 9° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 35° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 58° | 48° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Big Lake
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 41 miles away.
The best schools in and around Big Lake
Schools across Big Lake average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pinewood ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- Meadowvale ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
- Independence ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Becker MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
- Monticello MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Big Lake Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Elk River Senior HighA− · 60% proficient
- Becker Senior HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Monticello Senior HighB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Big Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Big Lake 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 Big Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Big Lake suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 81% of towns and health care access beats 63%.
Common questions about living in Big Lake
Is Big Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Big Lake ranks 2,339th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, civic engagement, and low crime, and lowest on noise and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Big Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $357,431. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $117,639 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is Big Lake safe?
Yes, Big Lake is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $165 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Big Lake?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 24 with lows near 9. That works out to about 122 pleasant days a year, more than 81% of towns.
Is Big Lake good for families?
Schools beat 73% of towns, crime safety beats 96%, and childcare runs $1,041 a month.
Compare Big Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Big Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Big Lake 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.
Big Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Big Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Big Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Big Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Big Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Big Lake 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.