Best PlacesBrooklyn Center, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brooklyn Center, 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.
Brooklyn Center ranks 1,188th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Brooklyn Center
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.
Brooklyn Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brooklyn Center ranks high
- BikingBetter than 98% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of cities
- TransitBetter than 94% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of cities
Where Brooklyn Center ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,682 a month, better than only 8% of cities
- School gradeD+, better than only 9% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 14% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Brooklyn Center
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brooklyn Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,136, 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 Brooklyn Center's effective rate of 1.22%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Brooklyn Center
Brooklyn Center 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 Brooklyn Center.
Who works in Brooklyn Center, and how
Work in Brooklyn Center centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Brooklyn Center
Brooklyn Center has more parkland per resident than 97% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Brooklyn Center and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Brooklyn Center, month by month
Brooklyn Center sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 18° | 11° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Brooklyn Center
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 14 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 17.5 million passengers in 2025, with 195 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Brooklyn Center
Schools across Brooklyn Center average a D+, better than 9% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Northport ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
- Fair Oaks ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
- Stevenson ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Maple Grove Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Jackson MiddleB− · 42% proficient
- Brooklyn Middle Steam SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Champlin Park High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Robbinsdale Cooper Senior HighC− · 26% proficient
- Park Center Ib World SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brooklyn Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brooklyn Center 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 Brooklyn Center against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Brooklyn Center suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Brooklyn Center
Is Brooklyn Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brooklyn Center ranks 1,188th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, cell coverage, and a stable housing market, 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 Brooklyn Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $274,442. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $78,136 median income, cost of living beats 44% of cities.
Is Brooklyn Center safe?
Brooklyn Center is safer than 21% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $434 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Brooklyn Center?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 25 with lows near 11. That works out to about 123 pleasant days a year, more than 71% of cities.
Is Brooklyn Center good for families?
Schools beat 9% of cities, crime safety beats 21%, and childcare runs $1,682 a month.
Compare Brooklyn Center with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brooklyn Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brooklyn Center 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.
Brooklyn Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brooklyn Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brooklyn Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brooklyn Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brooklyn Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brooklyn Center 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.