Best PlacesCanby, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Canby, 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.
Canby ranks 16,276th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Canby
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.
Canby's strengths and weaknesses
Where Canby ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute20.3 minutes each way, better than 87% of towns
- BikingBetter than 85% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 122 pleasant days a year, better than 81% of towns
Where Canby ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 22% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of towns
- Cheap childcare$905 a month, better than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Canby
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Canby home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,677, 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 Canby'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Canby
Canby 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 Canby.
Who works in Canby, and how
Work in Canby centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Canby
Canby has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Canby and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Canby, month by month
Canby sees roughly 122 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 27, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27° | 19° | 11° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 61° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Canby
The nearest airport, Watertown Regional, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 150 miles away.
The best schools in and around Canby
Schools across Canby average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Canby ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Hendricks ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Madison-marietta-nassau ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lac Qui Parle Valley Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Hendricks Senior HighA · 75% proficient
- Dawson-boyd SecondaryB− · 43% proficient
- Lac Qui Parle Valley SecondaryC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Canby school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Canby 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 Canby against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Canby
Is Canby a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Canby ranks 16,276th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, state infrastructure, and short commutes, and lowest on distance from a big city and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Canby expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $157,598. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $67,677 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Canby safe?
Canby is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $329 per resident a year.
Compare Canby with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Canby. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Canby 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.
Canby detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Canby: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Canby: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Canby: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Canby: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Canby 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.