Best PlacesLa Crescent, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around La Crescent, 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.
La Crescent ranks 8,250th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in La Crescent
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.
La Crescent's strengths and weaknesses
Where La Crescent ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute18.4 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
Where La Crescent ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$986 a month, better than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in La Crescent
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median La Crescent home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,217, 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 La Crescent's effective rate of 1.19%, 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 La Crescent
La Crescent 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 La Crescent.
Who works in La Crescent, and how
Work in La Crescent centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in La Crescent
La Crescent has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of La Crescent and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in La Crescent, month by month
La Crescent sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 39° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of La Crescent
The nearest airport, La Crosse Regional, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 119 miles away.
The best schools in and around La Crescent
Schools across La Crescent average a B−, better than 55% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Caledonia ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Houston ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- La Crescent-hokah ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Caledonia MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Winona MiddleC · 32% proficient
- La Crescent-hokah Middle SchoolC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Caledonia Senior HighB− · 45% proficient
- La Crescent Senior HighB− · 43% proficient
- Houston SecondaryB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every La Crescent school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
La Crescent 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 La Crescent against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in La Crescent
Is La Crescent a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, La Crescent ranks 8,250th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, biking, and state infrastructure, and lowest on noise 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 La Crescent expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $295,717. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $88,217 median income, cost of living beats 77% of towns.
Is La Crescent safe?
Yes, La Crescent is safer than 87% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $199 per resident a year.
Compare La Crescent with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to La Crescent. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in La Crescent 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.
La Crescent detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for La Crescent: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in La Crescent: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of La Crescent: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in La Crescent: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
La Crescent 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.