Best PlacesHoward Lake, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Howard Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Howard Lake ranks 8,017th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Howard Lake
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.
Howard Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Howard Lake ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 90% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 84% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 84% of towns
Where Howard Lake ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,079 a month, better than only 20% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 23% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 24% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Howard Lake
A household needs to earn about $87,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Howard Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $94,922, 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 Howard Lake's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 Howard Lake
Howard Lake 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 Howard Lake.
Who works in Howard Lake, and how
Work in Howard Lake centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Howard Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Howard Lake.
What the weather is like in Howard Lake, month by month
Howard Lake sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 17° | 9° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 33° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Howard Lake
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 43 miles away.
The best schools in and around Howard Lake
Schools across Howard Lake average a B, better than 70% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Northwinds ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Cokato ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Humphrey ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dassel-cokato MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Buffalo Community MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Howard Lake-waverly-winsted MiddleB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Watertown Mayer HighA− · 67% proficient
- Dassel-cokato Senior HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Buffalo Senior HighB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Howard Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Howard Lake 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 Howard Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Howard Lake
Is Howard Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Howard Lake ranks 8,017th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, cell coverage, and a strong job market, and lowest on taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Howard Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $327,509. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $94,922 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Howard Lake safe?
Yes, Howard Lake is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $241 per resident a year.
Compare Howard Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Howard Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Howard Lake 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.
Howard Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Howard Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Howard Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Howard Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Howard Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Howard Lake 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.