Best PlacesElbow Lake, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elbow Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Elbow Lake ranks 22,085th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Elbow 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.
Elbow Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Elbow Lake ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 146 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 82% of towns
Where Elbow Lake ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 24% of towns
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elbow Lake
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elbow Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,610, 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 Elbow Lake's effective rate of 0.91%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Elbow Lake
Elbow Lake'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 Elbow Lake.
Who works in Elbow Lake, and how
Work in Elbow Lake centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Elbow Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Elbow Lake.
What the weather is like in Elbow Lake, month by month
Elbow Lake sees roughly 146 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 20, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 12° | 5° |
| April | 51° | 41° | 33° |
| July | 81° | 71° | 62° |
| October | 56° | 46° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Elbow Lake
The nearest airport, Hector International, is about 76 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 154 miles away.
The best schools in and around Elbow Lake
Schools across Elbow Lake average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Central Area N. El.B · 50% proficient
- Ashby ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wca Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- West Central Area SecondaryB · 50% proficient
- Ashby SecondaryB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Elbow Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elbow 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 Elbow Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Elbow Lake
Is Elbow Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elbow Lake ranks 22,085th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, state infrastructure, and civic engagement, and lowest on noise and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Elbow Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $146,994. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $64,610 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Elbow Lake safe?
Elbow Lake is safer than 53% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $295 per resident a year.
Compare Elbow Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elbow Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elbow 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.
Elbow Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elbow Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elbow Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elbow Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elbow Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elbow 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.