Best PlacesBlooming Prairie, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Blooming Prairie, 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.
Blooming Prairie ranks 7,628th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Blooming Prairie
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.
Blooming Prairie's strengths and weaknesses
Where Blooming Prairie ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 193 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of towns
Where Blooming Prairie ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,024 a month, better than only 23% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Blooming Prairie
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Blooming Prairie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,958, 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 Blooming Prairie's effective rate of 1.05%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Blooming Prairie
Blooming Prairie runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Blooming Prairie.
Who works in Blooming Prairie, and how
Work in Blooming Prairie centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Blooming Prairie
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Blooming Prairie.
What the weather is like in Blooming Prairie, month by month
Blooming Prairie sees roughly 193 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 16° | 10° |
| April | 55° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 81° | 71° | 62° |
| October | 59° | 48° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Blooming Prairie
The nearest airport, Rochester International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 70 miles away.
The best schools in and around Blooming Prairie
Schools across Blooming Prairie average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Blooming Prairie ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Lincoln ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Triton ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Owatonna Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Triton Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Owatonna Senior HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Triton High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Blooming Prairie SecondaryC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Blooming Prairie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Blooming Prairie 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 Blooming Prairie against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Blooming Prairie
Is Blooming Prairie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Blooming Prairie ranks 7,628th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, walkability, and civic engagement, and lowest on tree cover and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Blooming Prairie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $212,332. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $76,958 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Blooming Prairie safe?
Yes, Blooming Prairie is safer than 79% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $223 per resident a year.
Compare Blooming Prairie with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Blooming Prairie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Blooming Prairie 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.
Blooming Prairie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Blooming Prairie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Blooming Prairie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Blooming Prairie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Blooming Prairie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Blooming Prairie 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.