Best PlacesChickamaw Beach, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chickamaw Beach, 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.
Chickamaw Beach ranks 37,498th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Chickamaw Beach
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.
Chickamaw Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chickamaw Beach ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Short commute19.4 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 137 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 80% of towns
Where Chickamaw Beach ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 13% of towns
- Household income$53,618 median, better than only 17% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 18% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Chickamaw Beach
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chickamaw Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $53,618, 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 Chickamaw Beach's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 Chickamaw Beach
Chickamaw Beach's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Chickamaw Beach.
Who works in Chickamaw Beach, and how
Work in Chickamaw Beach centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Chickamaw Beach
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Chickamaw Beach.
What the weather is like in Chickamaw Beach, month by month
Chickamaw Beach sees roughly 137 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 21, with lows near 4. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21° | 12° | 4° |
| April | 50° | 39° | 30° |
| July | 79° | 68° | 58° |
| October | 54° | 44° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Chickamaw Beach
The nearest airport, Brainerd Lakes Regional, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 140 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chickamaw Beach
Schools across Chickamaw Beach average a C+, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pine River-backus ElementaryB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Pine River-backus High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chickamaw Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chickamaw Beach 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 Chickamaw Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Chickamaw Beach
Is Chickamaw Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chickamaw Beach ranks 37,498th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low disaster risk, and short commutes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chickamaw Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $209,000. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $53,618 median income, cost of living beats 13% of towns.
Is Chickamaw Beach safe?
Chickamaw Beach is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $461 per resident a year.
Compare Chickamaw Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chickamaw Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chickamaw Beach 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.
Chickamaw Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chickamaw Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chickamaw Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chickamaw Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chickamaw Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chickamaw Beach 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.