Best PlacesGilman, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gilman, 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.
Gilman ranks 15,188th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Gilman
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.
Gilman's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gilman ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Household income$107,300 median, better than 89% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 87% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 84% of towns
Where Gilman ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,079 a month, better than only 20% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gilman
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gilman home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $107,300, 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 Gilman's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 Gilman
Gilman'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 Gilman.
Who works in Gilman, and how
Work in Gilman centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Gilman
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gilman.
What the weather is like in Gilman, month by month
Gilman 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 Gilman
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 69 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gilman
Schools across Gilman average a B+, better than 74% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Foley ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Rice ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Foley Intermediate ElementaryB+ · 48% proficient
- Sauk Rapids-rice Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Sauk Rapids-rice Senior HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Foley Senior HighB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gilman school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gilman 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 Gilman against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gilman
Is Gilman a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gilman ranks 15,188th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, heat safety, and high incomes, and lowest on crime and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gilman expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $372,288. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $107,300 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Gilman safe?
Gilman is safer than 4% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $941 per resident a year.
Compare Gilman with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gilman. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gilman 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.
Gilman detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gilman: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gilman: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gilman: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gilman: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gilman 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.