Best PlacesCottage Grove, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cottage Grove, 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.
Cottage Grove ranks 248th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cottage Grove
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.
Cottage Grove's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cottage Grove ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 99% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of cities
Where Cottage Grove ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,682 a month, better than only 8% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 28% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 30% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 30% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 33% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Cottage Grove
A household needs to earn about $105,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cottage Grove home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $125,961, 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 Cottage Grove's effective rate of 0.99%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cottage Grove
Cottage Grove 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 Cottage Grove.
Who works in Cottage Grove, and how
Work in Cottage Grove centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cottage Grove
Cottage Grove has more parkland per resident than 99% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Cottage Grove and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cottage Grove, month by month
Cottage Grove sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 19° | 13° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 37° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Cottage Grove
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 Cottage Grove
Schools across Cottage Grove average a B, better than 59% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Cottage Grove ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Grey Cloud ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Pinecrest ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Woodbury Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Hastings Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Oltman Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- East Ridge High SchoolA · 71% proficient
- Hastings High SchoolA− · 61% proficient
- Park High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cottage Grove school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cottage Grove 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 Cottage Grove against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Cottage Grove suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 89% of cities and 21% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Cottage Grove
Is Cottage Grove a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cottage Grove ranks 248th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, few empty homes, and heat safety, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cottage Grove expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $391,931. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $125,961 median income, cost of living beats 89% of cities.
Is Cottage Grove safe?
Yes, Cottage Grove is safer than 90% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $198 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cottage Grove?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 26 with lows near 13. That works out to about 84 pleasant days a year, more than 49% of cities.
Is Cottage Grove good for families?
Schools beat 59% of cities, crime safety beats 90%, and childcare runs $1,682 a month.
Compare Cottage Grove with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cottage Grove. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cottage Grove 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.
Cottage Grove detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cottage Grove: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cottage Grove: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cottage Grove: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cottage Grove: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cottage Grove 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.