Best PlacesLe Sueur County, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Le Sueur County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Le Sueur County ranks 185th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Le Sueur County
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.
The best areas in Le Sueur County
The parts of Le Sueur County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
New Prague
Fewer homes sit empty, local pay stretches further, and schools score higher.
Le Center
Le Sueur
Fewer households have young kids and prices have run up more.
Montgomery
Fewer adults hold degrees and crime runs higher.
Waterville
Tree cover is thicker and homes cost less.
Scores across Le Sueur County run from about the 32nd to the 98th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Le Sueur County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Le Sueur County ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 91% of counties
- Household income$95,016 median, better than 90% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of counties
Where Le Sueur County ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 17% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 30% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 41% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Le Sueur County
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Le Sueur County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $95,016, 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 Le Sueur County's effective rate of 1.00%, 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 Le Sueur County
Le Sueur County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Le Sueur County.
Who works in Le Sueur County, and how
Work in Le Sueur County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Le Sueur County
Le Sueur County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Le Sueur County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Le Sueur County growing, and who is moving in?
Le Sueur County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Minneapolis, MN metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Le Sueur County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Le Sueur County, month by month
Le Sueur County sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 18° | 11° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 37° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Le Sueur County
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 41 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 17.5 million passengers in 2025, with 195 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Le Sueur County
Schools across Le Sueur County average a B, better than 72% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Bridges Community ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Raven Stream ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Waterville ElementaryA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- New Prague Middle SchoolA− · 52% proficient
- Prairie Winds Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- St. Peter Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- New Prague Senior HighA− · 66% proficient
- Mankato East Senior HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Belle Plaine Senior HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Le Sueur County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Le Sueur County 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 Le Sueur County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Le Sueur County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 94% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 78% of counties and health care access beats 87%.
Common questions about living in Le Sueur County
Is Le Sueur County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Le Sueur County ranks 185th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, low crime, and state infrastructure, and lowest on taxes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Le Sueur County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $317,512. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $95,016 median income, cost of living beats 94% of counties.
Is Le Sueur County safe?
Yes, Le Sueur County is safer than 93% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $234 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Le Sueur County?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 26 with lows near 11. That works out to about 124 pleasant days a year, more than 78% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Le Sueur County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are New Prague, Le Center, and Le Sueur. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Le Sueur County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Le Sueur County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Le Sueur County 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.
Le Sueur County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Le Sueur County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Le Sueur County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Le Sueur County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Le Sueur County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Le Sueur County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.