Best PlacesLong Prairie, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Long Prairie, 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.
Long Prairie ranks 25,367th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Long Prairie
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.
Long Prairie's strengths and weaknesses
Where Long Prairie ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 119 pleasant days a year, better than 80% of towns
Where Long Prairie ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 12% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 18% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 24% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Long Prairie
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Long Prairie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,117, 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 Long Prairie'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Long Prairie
Long Prairie runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Long Prairie.
Who works in Long Prairie, and how
Work in Long Prairie 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 74%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Long Prairie
Long Prairie has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Long Prairie and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Long Prairie, month by month
Long Prairie sees roughly 119 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 Long Prairie
The nearest airport, Brainerd Lakes Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Long Prairie
Schools across Long Prairie average a D+, better than 18% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Osakis ElementaryA+ · 74% proficient
- Miltona ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Browerville ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Sauk Centre SecondaryB · 50% proficient
- Osakis SecondaryB · 46% proficient
- Browerville SecondaryC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Long Prairie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Long Prairie 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 Long Prairie against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Long Prairie
Is Long Prairie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Long Prairie ranks 25,367th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and state infrastructure, and lowest on education levels and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Long Prairie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $182,962. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $63,117 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Long Prairie safe?
Long Prairie is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $362 per resident a year.
Compare Long Prairie with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Long Prairie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Long Prairie 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.
Long Prairie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Long Prairie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Long Prairie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Long Prairie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Long Prairie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Long Prairie 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.