Best PlacesGrand Portage, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Grand Portage, 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.
Grand Portage ranks 29,864th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Grand Portage
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 Portage's strengths and weaknesses
Where Grand Portage ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute19.1 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 88% of towns
Where Grand Portage ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 13% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Grand Portage
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Grand Portage home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $64,261; 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 Grand Portage's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Portage
Grand Portage runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Grand Portage.
Who works in Grand Portage, and how
Work in Grand Portage centers on retail trade and public administration. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Grand Portage
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Grand Portage.
What the weather is like in Grand Portage, month by month
Grand Portage sees roughly 98 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 74 degrees. January highs sit near 18, with lows near 3. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18° | 10° | 3° |
| April | 42° | 33° | 25° |
| July | 74° | 63° | 54° |
| October | 49° | 41° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Grand Portage
The nearest airport, Houghton County Memorial, is about 79 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 268 miles away.
The best schools in and around Grand Portage
Schools across Grand Portage average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sawtooth Mountain ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cook County MiddleD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Cook County Senior HighB− · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Grand Portage school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Grand Portage 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 Portage against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Grand Portage
Is Grand Portage a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Grand Portage ranks 29,864th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, tree cover, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Grand Portage expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $255,700. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $64,261 median income, cost of living beats 13% of towns.
Is Grand Portage safe?
Grand Portage is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $528 per resident a year.
Compare Grand Portage with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Grand Portage. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Grand Portage 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 Portage detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Grand Portage: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Grand Portage: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Grand Portage: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Grand Portage: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Grand Portage 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.