Best PlacesIron, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Iron, 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.
Iron ranks 18,796th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Iron
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.
Iron's strengths and weaknesses
Where Iron ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 87% of towns
Where Iron ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 24% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Iron
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Iron home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,577, 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 Iron's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 Iron
Iron 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 Iron.
Who works in Iron, and how
Work in Iron centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Iron
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Iron.
What the weather is like in Iron, month by month
Iron sees roughly 129 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 20, with lows near 2. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 11° | 2° |
| April | 49° | 37° | 27° |
| July | 79° | 66° | 54° |
| October | 53° | 43° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Iron
The nearest airport, Range Regional, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 177 miles away.
The best schools in and around Iron
Schools across Iron average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cherry ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- North Star ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
- Merritt ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Eveleth-gilbert SecondaryB− · 40% proficient
- Mountain Iron-buhl SecondaryC+ · 40% proficient
- Cherry SecondaryC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Iron school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Iron 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 Iron against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Iron
Is Iron a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Iron ranks 18,796th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, state infrastructure, and clean air, and lowest on distance from a big city and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Iron expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $210,052. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $78,577 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Iron safe?
Iron is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $380 per resident a year.
Compare Iron with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Iron. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Iron 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.
Iron detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Iron: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Iron: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Iron: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Iron: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Iron 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.