Best PlacesGrey Eagle, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Grey Eagle, 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.
Grey Eagle ranks 18,993rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Grey Eagle
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.
Grey Eagle's strengths and weaknesses
Where Grey Eagle ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 83% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 79% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 115 pleasant days a year, better than 77% of towns
Where Grey Eagle ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 27% of towns
- Short commute30.5 minutes each way, better than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Grey Eagle
A household needs to earn about $88,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Grey Eagle home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $85,088; 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 Grey Eagle's effective rate of 1.00%, 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 Grey Eagle
Grey Eagle 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 Grey Eagle.
Who works in Grey Eagle, and how
Work in Grey Eagle centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Grey Eagle
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Grey Eagle.
What the weather is like in Grey Eagle, month by month
Grey Eagle sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 22, with lows near 6. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22° | 14° | 6° |
| April | 52° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 58° |
| October | 56° | 46° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Grey Eagle
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 98 miles away.
The best schools in and around Grey Eagle
Schools across Grey Eagle average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Melrose ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Upsala ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Sauk Centre ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Melrose MiddleB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Sauk Centre SecondaryB · 50% proficient
- Melrose SecondaryC+ · 40% proficient
- Upsala SecondaryC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Grey Eagle school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Grey Eagle 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 Grey Eagle against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Grey Eagle
Is Grey Eagle a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Grey Eagle ranks 18,993rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, walkability, and health care access, and lowest on empty homes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Grey Eagle expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $326,361. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $85,088 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Grey Eagle safe?
Yes, Grey Eagle is safer than 79% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $239 per resident a year.
Compare Grey Eagle with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Grey Eagle. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Grey Eagle 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.
Grey Eagle detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Grey Eagle: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Grey Eagle: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Grey Eagle: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Grey Eagle: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Grey Eagle 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.