Best PlacesBrowns Valley, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Browns Valley, 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.
Browns Valley ranks 39,516th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Browns Valley
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.
Browns Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Browns Valley ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute15.2 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 88% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 83% of towns
Where Browns Valley ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Browns Valley
A household needs to earn about $23,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Browns Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,616, 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 Browns Valley's effective rate of 0.81%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Browns Valley
Browns Valley 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 Browns Valley.
Who works in Browns Valley, and how
Work in Browns Valley centers on retail trade and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 60%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Browns Valley
Browns Valley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Browns Valley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Browns Valley, month by month
Browns Valley sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 16° | 8° |
| April | 55° | 42° | 33° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 59° | 48° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Browns Valley
The nearest airport, Watertown Regional, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 182 miles away.
The best schools in and around Browns Valley
Schools across Browns Valley average a C+, better than 42% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pre-k - 5th Grade BuildingB · 47% proficient
- Browns Valley ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Browns Valley MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Herman SecondaryB− · 42% proficient
- 6-12th Grade BuildingC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Browns Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Browns Valley 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 Browns Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Browns Valley
Is Browns Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Browns Valley ranks 39,516th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, short commutes, and state infrastructure, and lowest on crime and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Browns Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $87,168. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $55,616 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Browns Valley safe?
Browns Valley is safer than 5% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $720 per resident a year.
Compare Browns Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Browns Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Browns Valley 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.
Browns Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Browns Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Browns Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Browns Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Browns Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Browns Valley 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.