Best PlacesForest Lake, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Forest Lake, 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.
Forest Lake ranks 3,320th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Forest 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.
Forest Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Forest Lake ranks high
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
Where Forest Lake ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,682 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 32% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 37% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Forest Lake
A household needs to earn about $107,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Forest Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $103,606; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Forest Lake'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 Forest Lake
Forest 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 Forest Lake.
Who works in Forest Lake, and how
Work in Forest Lake 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 77%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Forest Lake
Forest Lake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of towns and more parkland per resident than 86% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Forest Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Forest Lake, month by month
Forest Lake sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 19° | 12° |
| April | 56° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 84° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 60° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Forest Lake
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 29 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 Forest Lake
Schools across Forest Lake average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Scandia ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- Columbus ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- Lino Lakes ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- Forest Lake ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Forest Lake Area Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- North Lakes Academy Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Forest Lake Area High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Lila Upper SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- North Lakes Academy Upper SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Forest Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Forest 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 Forest Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Forest Lake
Is Forest Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Forest Lake ranks 3,320th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, state infrastructure, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Forest Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $400,170. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $103,606 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Forest Lake safe?
Yes, Forest Lake is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $213 per resident a year.
Compare Forest Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Forest Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Forest 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.
Forest Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Forest Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Forest Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Forest Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Forest Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Forest 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.