Best PlacesBrainard, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brainard, 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.
Brainard ranks 9,912th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Brainard
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.
Brainard's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brainard ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of towns
- BikingBetter than 80% of towns
Where Brainard ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 72 pleasant days a year, better than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Brainard
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brainard home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,418, 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 Brainard's effective rate of 1.11%, 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 Brainard
Brainard 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 Brainard.
Who works in Brainard, and how
Work in Brainard centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Brainard
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Brainard.
What the weather is like in Brainard, month by month
Brainard sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 25° | 17° |
| April | 66° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Brainard
The nearest airport, Lincoln, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 58 miles away.
The best schools in and around Brainard
Schools across Brainard average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Elementary School At BrainardA · 65% proficient
- Elementary School At DwightB · 50% proficient
- Elementary Sch At ValparaisoB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Woodrow Wilson Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Intermediate School At Jr/sr High SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- High School At BrainardB · 48% proficient
- Secondary Sch At RaymondB− · 45% proficient
- Thomas Jefferson High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brainard school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brainard 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 Brainard against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Brainard
Is Brainard a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brainard ranks 9,912th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, walkability, and state infrastructure, and lowest on internet speeds and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brainard expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $240,153. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $86,418 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Brainard safe?
Yes, Brainard is safer than 79% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $211 per resident a year.
Compare Brainard with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brainard. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brainard 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.
Brainard detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brainard: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brainard: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brainard: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brainard: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brainard 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.