Best PlacesCrosby Beach, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Crosby Beach, 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.
Crosby Beach ranks 13,469th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Crosby 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.
Crosby Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Crosby Beach ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 128 pleasant days a year, better than 84% of towns
Where Crosby Beach ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Crosby Beach
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Crosby Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,032, 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 Crosby Beach's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 Crosby Beach
Crosby Beach runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Crosby Beach.
Who works in Crosby Beach, and how
Work in Crosby Beach centers on education and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Crosby Beach
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Crosby Beach.
What the weather is like in Crosby Beach, month by month
Crosby Beach sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 22, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22° | 13° | 5° |
| April | 53° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 60° |
| October | 57° | 47° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Crosby Beach
The nearest airport, Brainerd Lakes Regional, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 113 miles away.
The best schools in and around Crosby Beach
Schools across Crosby Beach average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cuyuna Range ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Garfield ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Forestview MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Brainerd Senior HighA− · 59% proficient
- Crosby-ironton SecondaryC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Crosby Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Crosby 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 Crosby Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Crosby Beach
Is Crosby Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Crosby Beach ranks 13,469th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, health care access, and low crime, and lowest on biking and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Crosby Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $317,351. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $85,032 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Crosby Beach safe?
Yes, Crosby Beach is safer than 87% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $195 per resident a year.
Compare Crosby Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Crosby Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Crosby 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.
Crosby Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Crosby Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Crosby Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Crosby Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Crosby Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Crosby 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.