Best PlacesCrookston, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Crookston, 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.
Crookston ranks 16,993rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Crookston
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.
Crookston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Crookston ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Short commute17.1 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
Where Crookston ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 16% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Crookston
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Crookston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,393, 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 Crookston's effective rate of 1.16%, 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 Crookston
Crookston'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 Crookston.
Who works in Crookston, and how
Work in Crookston centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Crookston
Crookston has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Crookston and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Crookston, month by month
Crookston sees roughly 143 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 18, with lows near 3. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18° | 10° | 3° |
| April | 50° | 39° | 31° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 60° |
| October | 56° | 46° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Crookston
The nearest airport, Thief River Falls Regional, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 257 miles away.
The best schools in and around Crookston
Schools across Crookston average a C, better than 39% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fertile-beltrami ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Highland ElementaryB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Fertile-beltrami SecondaryB · 47% proficient
- Crookston SecondaryC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Crookston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Crookston 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 Crookston against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Crookston
Is Crookston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Crookston ranks 16,993rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and biking, and lowest on distance from a big city and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Crookston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $198,149. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $62,393 median income, cost of living beats 56% of towns.
Is Crookston safe?
Crookston is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $385 per resident a year.
Compare Crookston with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Crookston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Crookston 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.
Crookston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Crookston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Crookston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Crookston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Crookston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Crookston 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.