Best PlacesElgin, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elgin, 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.
Elgin ranks 4,599th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Elgin
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.
Elgin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Elgin ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 89% of towns
Where Elgin ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,029 a month, better than only 23% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 31% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 33% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 42% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elgin
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elgin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $102,258, 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 Elgin's effective rate of 0.82%, 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 Elgin
Elgin runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Elgin.
Who works in Elgin, and how
Work in Elgin centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Elgin
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Elgin.
What the weather is like in Elgin, month by month
Elgin sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 19° | 13° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 38° |
| July | 82° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Elgin
The nearest airport, Rochester International, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around Elgin
Schools across Elgin average an A−, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Plainview-elgin-millville Pk-3A · 65% proficient
- Dover-eyota ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Washington District-wide ElementaryA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Plainview-elgin-millville 4-6A− · 57% proficient
- Plainview-elgin-millville JuniorA− · 54% proficient
- Kellogg MiddleB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Plainview-elgin-millville HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Century Senior HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Dover-eyota High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Elgin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elgin 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 Elgin against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Elgin
Is Elgin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elgin ranks 4,599th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, heat safety, and low crime, and lowest on taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Elgin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $318,003. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $102,258 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Elgin safe?
Yes, Elgin is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $175 per resident a year.
Compare Elgin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elgin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elgin 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.
Elgin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elgin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elgin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elgin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elgin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elgin 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.