Best PlacesDassel, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dassel, 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.
Dassel ranks 8,569th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dassel
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.
Dassel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dassel ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 92% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 83% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 83% of towns
Where Dassel ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 26% of towns
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 30% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dassel
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dassel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,313, 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 Dassel's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 Dassel
Dassel's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dassel.
Who works in Dassel, and how
Work in Dassel centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Dassel
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dassel.
What the weather is like in Dassel, month by month
Dassel sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 16° | 9° |
| April | 55° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Dassel
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dassel
Schools across Dassel average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dassel ElementaryA+ · 83% proficient
- Cokato ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Kimball ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dassel-cokato MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Litchfield Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Hutchinson MiddleA− · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Litchfield Senior HighA− · 63% proficient
- Hutchinson Senior HighB+ · 56% proficient
- Dassel-cokato Senior HighB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dassel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dassel 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 Dassel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dassel
Is Dassel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dassel ranks 8,569th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, good schools, and civic engagement, and lowest on an overheated housing market and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dassel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $303,767. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $84,313 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Dassel safe?
Yes, Dassel is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $218 per resident a year.
Compare Dassel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dassel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dassel 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.
Dassel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dassel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dassel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dassel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dassel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dassel 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.