Best PlacesElysian, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elysian, 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.
Elysian ranks 7,780th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Elysian
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.
Elysian's strengths and weaknesses
Where Elysian ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of towns
- Household income$98,412 median, better than 84% of towns
Where Elysian ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 32% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elysian
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elysian home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $98,412, 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 Elysian's effective rate of 0.99%, 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 Elysian
Elysian 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 Elysian.
Who works in Elysian, and how
Work in Elysian centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Elysian
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Elysian.
What the weather is like in Elysian, month by month
Elysian sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 18° | 10° |
| April | 55° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 81° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 59° | 48° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Elysian
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 52 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 17.5 million passengers in 2025, with 195 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Elysian
Schools across Elysian average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Waterville ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Janesville-waldorf-pemberton El.em.B+ · 53% proficient
- Hartley ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Waterville-elysian-morristown Jr.C · 35% proficient
- Waseca Junior HighC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Waseca Senior HighB− · 45% proficient
- Waterville-elysian-morristown Sr.B− · 45% proficient
- Tri-city United High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Elysian school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elysian 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 Elysian against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Elysian
Is Elysian a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elysian ranks 7,780th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low crime, and fast internet, and lowest on empty homes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Elysian expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $347,840. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $98,412 median income, cost of living beats 89% of towns.
Is Elysian safe?
Yes, Elysian is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $189 per resident a year.
Compare Elysian with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elysian. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elysian 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.
Elysian detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elysian: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elysian: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elysian: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elysian: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elysian 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.