Best PlacesGrand Meadow, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Grand Meadow, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Grand Meadow ranks 8,754th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Grand Meadow
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.
Grand Meadow's strengths and weaknesses
Where Grand Meadow ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 88% of towns
Where Grand Meadow ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 9% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 28% of towns
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Grand Meadow
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Grand Meadow home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $87,613, 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 Grand Meadow's effective rate of 1.04%, 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 Grand Meadow
Grand Meadow'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 Grand Meadow.
Who works in Grand Meadow, and how
Work in Grand Meadow centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Grand Meadow
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Grand Meadow.
What the weather is like in Grand Meadow, month by month
Grand Meadow sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 17° | 8° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 33° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 60° |
| October | 62° | 49° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Grand Meadow
The nearest airport, Rochester International, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Grand Meadow
Schools across Grand Meadow average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Grand Meadow ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Bear Cave Intermediate SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Leroy ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stewartville MiddleC+ · 35% proficient
- Grand Meadow MiddleD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Stewartville Senior HighB · 48% proficient
- Grand Meadow Senior HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Kingsland Junior/senior High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Grand Meadow school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Grand Meadow 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 Grand Meadow against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Grand Meadow
Is Grand Meadow a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Grand Meadow ranks 8,754th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, a strong job market, and state infrastructure, and lowest on civic engagement and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Grand Meadow expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $260,927. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $87,613 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Grand Meadow safe?
Yes, Grand Meadow is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $160 per resident a year.
Compare Grand Meadow with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Grand Meadow. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Grand Meadow 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.
Grand Meadow detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Grand Meadow: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Grand Meadow: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Grand Meadow: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Grand Meadow: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Grand Meadow 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.