Best PlacesCrane Lake, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Crane Lake, 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.
Crane Lake ranks 29,087th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Crane Lake
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.
Crane Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Crane Lake ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- QuietBetter than 93% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 87% of towns
Where Crane Lake ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Crane Lake
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Crane Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $74,809, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Crane Lake's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Crane Lake
Crane Lake 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 Crane Lake.
Who works in Crane Lake, and how
Work in Crane Lake centers on health care & social and admin & support services. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Crane Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Crane Lake.
What the weather is like in Crane Lake, month by month
Crane Lake sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 77 degrees. January highs sit near 19, with lows near 1. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 19° | 9° | 1° |
| April | 47° | 35° | 24° |
| July | 77° | 65° | 52° |
| October | 52° | 42° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Crane Lake
The nearest airport, Falls International/Einarson Field, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 236 miles away.
The best schools in and around Crane Lake
Schools across Crane Lake average a C, better than 37% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Woods ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Tower-soudan ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- North Woods SecondaryC · 32% proficient
- Northeast Range SecondaryD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Crane Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Crane Lake 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 Crane Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Crane Lake
Is Crane Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Crane Lake ranks 29,087th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, quiet, and clean air, and lowest on civic engagement and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Crane Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $396,584. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $74,809 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Crane Lake safe?
Crane Lake is safer than 35% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $357 per resident a year.
Compare Crane Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Crane Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Crane Lake 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.
Crane Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Crane Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Crane Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Crane Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Crane Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Crane Lake 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.