Best PlacesLittle Falls, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Little Falls, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Little Falls ranks 26,110th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Little Falls
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.
Little Falls' strengths and weaknesses
Where Little Falls ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of towns
- BikingBetter than 89% of towns
- TransitBetter than 88% of towns
Where Little Falls ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Household income$58,195 median, better than only 24% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Little Falls
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Little Falls home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $58,195; 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 Little Falls' effective rate of 0.99%, 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 Little Falls
Little Falls 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 Little Falls.
Who works in Little Falls, and how
Work in Little Falls centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Little Falls
Little Falls has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Little Falls and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Little Falls, month by month
Little Falls sees roughly 110 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 22, with lows near 6. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22° | 14° | 6° |
| April | 52° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 58° |
| October | 56° | 46° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Little Falls
The nearest airport, Brainerd Lakes Regional, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Little Falls
Schools across Little Falls average a C+, better than 42% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Royalton ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Lindbergh ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
- Upsala ElementaryB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Royalton Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Community MiddleD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Royalton High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Little Falls Senior HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Upsala SecondaryC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Little Falls school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Little Falls 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 Little Falls against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Little Falls
Is Little Falls a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Little Falls ranks 26,110th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, state infrastructure, and few empty homes, and lowest on noise 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 Little Falls expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $223,199. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $58,195 median income, cost of living beats 27% of towns.
Is Little Falls safe?
Yes, Little Falls is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $268 per resident a year.
Compare Little Falls with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Little Falls. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Little Falls 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.
Little Falls detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Little Falls: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Little Falls: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Little Falls: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Little Falls: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Little Falls 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.