Best PlacesBlue Earth, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Blue Earth, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Blue Earth ranks 12,320th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Blue Earth
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.
Blue Earth's strengths and weaknesses
Where Blue Earth ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute15.0 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
Where Blue Earth ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 27% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 28% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Blue Earth
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Blue Earth home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,838, 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 Blue Earth'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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Blue Earth
Blue Earth 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 Blue Earth.
Who works in Blue Earth, and how
Work in Blue Earth centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Blue Earth
Blue Earth has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Blue Earth and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Blue Earth, month by month
Blue Earth sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 61° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Blue Earth
The nearest airport, Mason City Municipal, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 96 miles away.
The best schools in and around Blue Earth
Schools across Blue Earth average a C, better than 37% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- United South Central ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
- Fairmont Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Granada Huntley East Chain Elem SchC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Blue Earth Area MiddleC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Fairmont Jr./sr. High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- United South Central High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Blue Earth Area SecondaryC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Blue Earth school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Blue Earth 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 Blue Earth against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Blue Earth
Is Blue Earth a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Blue Earth ranks 12,320th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, short commutes, and cell coverage, and lowest on taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Blue Earth expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $152,050. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $70,838 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Blue Earth safe?
Blue Earth is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $368 per resident a year.
Compare Blue Earth with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Blue Earth. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Blue Earth 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.
Blue Earth detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Blue Earth: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Blue Earth: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Blue Earth: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Blue Earth: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Blue Earth 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.