Best PlacesManitou, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Manitou, 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.
Manitou ranks 22,003rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Manitou
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.
Manitou's strengths and weaknesses
Where Manitou ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 86% of towns
Where Manitou ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute34.6 minutes each way, better than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Manitou
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Manitou home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,545, 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 Manitou's effective rate of 0.60%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Manitou
Manitou 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 Manitou.
Who works in Manitou, and how
Work in Manitou centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Manitou
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Manitou.
What the weather is like in Manitou, month by month
Manitou sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 20, with lows near -1. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 9° | -1° |
| April | 50° | 37° | 25° |
| July | 81° | 67° | 52° |
| October | 55° | 44° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Manitou
The nearest airport, Falls International/Einarson Field, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 258 miles away.
The best schools in and around Manitou
Schools across Manitou average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Northome ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Indus ElementaryD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Indus SecondaryB · 45% proficient
- Northome SecondaryD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Manitou school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Manitou 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 Manitou against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Manitou
Is Manitou a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Manitou ranks 22,003rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, quiet, and state infrastructure, and lowest on internet speeds 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 Manitou expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $166,400. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $84,545 median income, cost of living beats 73% of towns.
Is Manitou safe?
Yes, Manitou is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $282 per resident a year.
Compare Manitou with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Manitou. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Manitou 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.
Manitou detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Manitou: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Manitou: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Manitou: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Manitou: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Manitou 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.