Best PlacesHeinola, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Heinola, 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.
Heinola ranks 12,768th 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 Heinola
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.
Heinola's strengths and weaknesses
Where Heinola ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 147 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 88% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 85% of towns
Where Heinola ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 17% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Heinola
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Heinola home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $79,615; 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 Heinola's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Heinola
Heinola 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 Heinola.
Who works in Heinola, and how
Work in Heinola centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Heinola
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Heinola.
What the weather is like in Heinola, month by month
Heinola sees roughly 147 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 20, with lows near 3. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 11° | 3° |
| April | 51° | 39° | 30° |
| July | 79° | 68° | 58° |
| October | 55° | 44° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Heinola
The nearest airport, Brainerd Lakes Regional, is about 62 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 152 miles away.
The best schools in and around Heinola
Schools across Heinola average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Henning ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- New York Mills ElementaryC+ · 39% proficient
- Wadena-deer Creek ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wadena-deer Creek 5th And 6th GradeB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Henning SecondaryB · 50% proficient
- Wadena-deer Creek Senior HighB− · 42% proficient
- New York Mills SecondaryC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Heinola school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Heinola 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 Heinola against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Heinola
Is Heinola a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Heinola ranks 12,768th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, health care access, and the weather, and lowest on empty homes 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 Heinola expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $316,296. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $79,615 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Heinola safe?
Yes, Heinola is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $203 per resident a year.
Compare Heinola with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Heinola. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Heinola 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.
Heinola detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Heinola: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Heinola: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Heinola: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Heinola: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Heinola 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.