Best PlacesEast Gull Lake, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East Gull Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
East Gull Lake ranks 4,296th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in East Gull 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.
East Gull Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where East Gull Lake ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$109,830 median, better than 90% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 89% of towns
Where East Gull Lake ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 21% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 24% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in East Gull Lake
A household needs to earn about $120,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Gull Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $109,830; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 East Gull Lake's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 East Gull Lake
East Gull Lake runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for East Gull Lake.
Who works in East Gull Lake, and how
Work in East Gull Lake 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 84%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in East Gull Lake
East Gull Lake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of East Gull Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in East Gull Lake, month by month
East Gull Lake 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 East Gull Lake
The nearest airport, Brainerd Lakes Regional, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 119 miles away.
The best schools in and around East Gull Lake
Schools across East Gull Lake average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Nisswa ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Pillager ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Baxter ElementaryB+ · 53% 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
- Pine River-backus High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Gull Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East Gull 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 East Gull Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in East Gull Lake
Is East Gull Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Gull Lake ranks 4,296th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, state infrastructure, and what local pay buys, and lowest on empty homes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is East Gull Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $469,599. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $109,830 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is East Gull Lake safe?
Yes, East Gull Lake is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $231 per resident a year.
Compare East Gull Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Gull Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Gull 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.
East Gull Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Gull Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Gull Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Gull Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Gull Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Gull 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.