Best PlacesCrow Wing, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Crow Wing, 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.
Crow Wing ranks 9,486th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Crow Wing
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.
Crow Wing's strengths and weaknesses
Where Crow Wing ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 92% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 81% of towns
Where Crow Wing ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 30% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 30% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Crow Wing
A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Crow Wing home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,529, 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 Crow Wing'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Crow Wing
Crow Wing runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Crow Wing.
Who works in Crow Wing, and how
Work in Crow Wing centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Crow Wing
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Crow Wing.
What the weather is like in Crow Wing, month by month
Crow Wing sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 22, with lows near 4. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22° | 13° | 4° |
| April | 53° | 41° | 31° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 60° |
| October | 57° | 47° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Crow Wing
The nearest airport, Brainerd Lakes Regional, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 108 miles away.
The best schools in and around Crow Wing
Schools across Crow Wing average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pillager ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Riverside ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Forestview MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- Pillager Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Brainerd Senior HighA− · 59% proficient
- Pillager Senior High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Crow Wing school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Crow Wing 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 Crow Wing against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Crow Wing
Is Crow Wing a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Crow Wing ranks 9,486th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, heat safety, and state infrastructure, and lowest on walkability and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Crow Wing expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $304,618. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $78,529 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Crow Wing safe?
Yes, Crow Wing is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $183 per resident a year.
Compare Crow Wing with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Crow Wing. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Crow Wing 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.
Crow Wing detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Crow Wing: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Crow Wing: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Crow Wing: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Crow Wing: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Crow Wing 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.