Best PlacesHalma, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Halma, 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.
Halma ranks 29,435th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Halma
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.
Halma's strengths and weaknesses
Where Halma ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 128 pleasant days a year, better than 84% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 83% of towns
Where Halma ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Halma
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Halma home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,750, 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 Halma's effective rate of 1.02%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Halma
Halma 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 Halma.
Who works in Halma, and how
Work in Halma centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Halma
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Halma.
What the weather is like in Halma, month by month
Halma sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 17, with lows near 1. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 17° | 9° | 1° |
| April | 50° | 39° | 30° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 58° |
| October | 54° | 44° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Halma
The nearest airport, Thief River Falls Regional, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 306 miles away.
The best schools in and around Halma
Schools across Halma average a C+, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kittson Central ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Greenbush ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Karlstad ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Greenbush-middle River SecondaryB− · 43% proficient
- Kittson Central SecondaryB− · 43% proficient
- Tri-county SecondaryC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Halma school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Halma 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 Halma against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Halma
Is Halma a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Halma ranks 29,435th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, a stable housing market, and clean air, and lowest on civic engagement and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Halma expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $153,000. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $78,750 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Halma safe?
Halma is safer than 45% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $322 per resident a year.
Compare Halma with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Halma. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Halma 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.
Halma detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Halma: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Halma: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Halma: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Halma: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Halma 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.