Best PlacesGreenleaf, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Greenleaf, 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.
Greenleaf ranks 8,637th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Greenleaf
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.
Greenleaf's strengths and weaknesses
Where Greenleaf ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 86% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 81% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 77% of towns
Where Greenleaf ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Greenleaf
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Greenleaf home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $87,740; 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 Greenleaf's effective rate of 0.83%, 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 Greenleaf
Greenleaf runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Greenleaf.
Who works in Greenleaf, and how
Work in Greenleaf centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Greenleaf
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Greenleaf.
What the weather is like in Greenleaf, month by month
Greenleaf sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 16° | 9° |
| April | 55° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Greenleaf
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 62 miles away.
The best schools in and around Greenleaf
Schools across Greenleaf average an A−, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lake Ripley ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- Litchfield Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Hutchinson MiddleA− · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Litchfield Senior HighA− · 63% proficient
- Hutchinson Senior HighB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Greenleaf school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Greenleaf 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 Greenleaf against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Greenleaf
Is Greenleaf a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Greenleaf ranks 8,637th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, state infrastructure, and health care access, and lowest on tree cover and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Greenleaf expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $342,986. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $87,740 median income, cost of living beats 72% of towns.
Is Greenleaf safe?
Yes, Greenleaf is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $168 per resident a year.
Compare Greenleaf with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Greenleaf. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Greenleaf 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.
Greenleaf detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Greenleaf: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Greenleaf: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Greenleaf: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Greenleaf: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Greenleaf 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.