Best PlacesMaple Lake, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Maple Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Maple Lake ranks 6,282nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Maple Lake
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.
Maple Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Maple Lake ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 86% of towns
Where Maple Lake ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,079 a month, better than only 20% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
- Short commute29.9 minutes each way, better than only 34% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Maple Lake
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Maple Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,452, 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 Maple Lake's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 Maple Lake
Maple Lake'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 Maple Lake.
Who works in Maple Lake, and how
Work in Maple Lake centers on manufacturing and construction. 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 Maple Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Maple Lake.
What the weather is like in Maple Lake, month by month
Maple Lake sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 17° | 9° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 33° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Maple Lake
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Maple Lake
Schools across Maple Lake average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Annandale Elementary SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Pinewood ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- Little Mountain ElementaryA− · 59% proficient
Top middle schools
- Annandale Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Monticello MiddleB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Monticello Senior HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Annandale Senior HighB− · 45% proficient
- Maple Lake SecondaryB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Maple Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Maple Lake 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 Maple Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Maple Lake
Is Maple Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Maple Lake ranks 6,282nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, state infrastructure, and low crime, and lowest on taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Maple Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $352,783. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $100,452 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Maple Lake safe?
Yes, Maple Lake is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $182 per resident a year.
Compare Maple Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Maple Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Maple Lake 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.
Maple Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Maple Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Maple Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Maple Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Maple Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Maple Lake 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.