Best PlacesFoley, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Foley, 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.
Foley ranks 19,158th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Foley
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.
Foley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Foley ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 87% of towns
Where Foley ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,061 a month, better than only 21% of towns
- Short commute31.5 minutes each way, better than only 26% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Foley
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Foley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,012, 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 Foley's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 Foley
Foley runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Foley.
Who works in Foley, and how
Work in Foley centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Foley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Foley.
What the weather is like in Foley, month by month
Foley sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 23, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23° | 15° | 7° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 33° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 58° | 47° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Foley
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 64 miles away.
The best schools in and around Foley
Schools across Foley average a B+, better than 74% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Foley ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Rice ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Mississippi Heights ElementaryB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- Becker MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
- Foley Intermediate ElementaryB+ · 48% proficient
- Princeton Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Sauk Rapids-rice Senior HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Becker Senior HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Princeton High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Foley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Foley 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 Foley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Foley
Is Foley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Foley ranks 19,158th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, civic engagement, and state infrastructure, and lowest on crime and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Foley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $258,469. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $79,012 median income, cost of living beats 55% of towns.
Is Foley safe?
Foley is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $702 per resident a year.
Compare Foley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Foley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Foley 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.
Foley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Foley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Foley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Foley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Foley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Foley 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.