Best PlacesEcho, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Echo, 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.
Echo ranks 10,440th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Echo
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.
Echo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Echo ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 127 pleasant days a year, better than 84% of towns
Where Echo ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 18% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 27% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Echo
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Echo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,972, 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 Echo's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Echo
Echo runs older than the country, 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 Echo.
Who works in Echo, and how
Work in Echo centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Echo
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Echo.
What the weather is like in Echo, month by month
Echo sees roughly 127 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 17° | 9° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 61° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Echo
The nearest airport, Watertown Regional, is about 87 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 109 miles away.
The best schools in and around Echo
Schools across Echo average a B−, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lakeview ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Bert Raney Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Reede Gray ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Redwood Valley MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
- Yellow Medicine East Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Redwood Valley Senior HighB · 48% proficient
- Wabasso SecondaryB− · 42% proficient
- Lakeview SecondaryC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Echo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Echo 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 Echo against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Echo
Is Echo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Echo ranks 10,440th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, a stable housing market, and what local pay buys, and lowest on civic engagement and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Echo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $162,756. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $90,972 median income, cost of living beats 89% of towns.
Is Echo safe?
Yes, Echo is safer than 57% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $280 per resident a year.
Compare Echo with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Echo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Echo 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.
Echo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Echo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Echo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Echo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Echo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Echo 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.