Best PlacesGentilly, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gentilly, 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.
Gentilly ranks 11,174th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gentilly
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.
Gentilly's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gentilly ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 142 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Short commute20.7 minutes each way, better than 85% of towns
Where Gentilly ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 14% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 15% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gentilly
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gentilly home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $98,420, 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 Gentilly's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 Gentilly
Gentilly runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gentilly.
Who works in Gentilly, and how
Work in Gentilly centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Gentilly
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gentilly.
What the weather is like in Gentilly, month by month
Gentilly sees roughly 142 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 18, with lows near 3. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18° | 10° | 3° |
| April | 50° | 39° | 31° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 60° |
| October | 56° | 46° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Gentilly
The nearest airport, Thief River Falls Regional, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 254 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gentilly
Schools across Gentilly average a C+, better than 53% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fertile-beltrami ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- J.a. Hughes ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Fertile-beltrami SecondaryB · 47% proficient
- Lafayette SecondaryB− · 42% proficient
- Crookston SecondaryC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gentilly school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gentilly 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 Gentilly against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gentilly
Is Gentilly a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gentilly ranks 11,174th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, what local pay buys, and the weather, and lowest on biking 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 Gentilly expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $260,279. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $98,420 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Gentilly safe?
Gentilly is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $339 per resident a year.
Compare Gentilly with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gentilly. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gentilly 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.
Gentilly detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gentilly: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gentilly: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gentilly: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gentilly: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gentilly 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.