Best PlacesMakinen, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Makinen, 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.
Makinen ranks 28,496th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Makinen
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.
Makinen's strengths and weaknesses
Where Makinen ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 131 pleasant days a year, better than 86% of towns
Where Makinen ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 12% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Short commute35.3 minutes each way, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Makinen
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Makinen home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,900, 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 Makinen's effective rate of 0.76%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Makinen
Makinen 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 Makinen.
Who works in Makinen, and how
Work in Makinen centers on public administration and health care & social. 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 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Makinen
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Makinen.
What the weather is like in Makinen, month by month
Makinen sees roughly 131 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 Makinen
The nearest airport, Range Regional, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 175 miles away.
The best schools in and around Makinen
Schools across Makinen average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Homecroft ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Minnehaha ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- North Star ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ordean East Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- East High SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- Eveleth-gilbert SecondaryB− · 40% proficient
- Mesabi East SecondaryC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Makinen school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Makinen 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 Makinen against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Makinen
Is Makinen a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Makinen ranks 28,496th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, health care access, and state infrastructure, and lowest on empty homes and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Makinen expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $223,251. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $76,900 median income, cost of living beats 63% of towns.
Is Makinen safe?
Makinen is safer than 27% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $403 per resident a year.
Compare Makinen with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Makinen. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Makinen 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.
Makinen detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Makinen: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Makinen: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Makinen: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Makinen: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Makinen 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.