Best PlacesMille Lacs County, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Mille Lacs County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Mille Lacs County ranks 1,194th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mille Lacs County
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.
The best areas in Mille Lacs County
The parts of Mille Lacs County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Foreston
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and fewer homes sit empty.
Milaca
More residents vote and streets are more walkable.
Princeton
Scores across Mille Lacs County run from about the 15th to the 70th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Mille Lacs County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mille Lacs County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 91% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 88% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 82% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 77% of counties
Where Mille Lacs County ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of counties
- Short commute32.0 minutes each way, better than only 9% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,079 a month, better than only 13% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Mille Lacs County
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mille Lacs County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,972, 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 Mille Lacs County's effective rate of 0.97%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mille Lacs County
Mille Lacs County'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 Mille Lacs County.
Who works in Mille Lacs County, and how
Work in Mille Lacs County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Mille Lacs County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mille Lacs County.
Is Mille Lacs County growing, and who is moving in?
Mille Lacs County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Minneapolis, MN metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Mille Lacs County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Mille Lacs County, month by month
Mille Lacs County sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 16° | 9° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 59° | 48° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Mille Lacs County
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 66 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mille Lacs County
Schools across Mille Lacs County average a B−, better than 65% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Milaca ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Princeton Intermediate SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Ogilvie ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Princeton Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Princeton High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Milaca Secondary HighB− · 44% proficient
- Onamia High SchoolC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mille Lacs County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mille Lacs County 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 Mille Lacs County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Mille Lacs County suits
Retirees
The weather beats 74% of counties, health care access beats 72%, and it is quieter than 60%.
Common questions about living in Mille Lacs County
Is Mille Lacs County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mille Lacs County ranks 1,194th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, state infrastructure, and low crime, and lowest on a weak job market and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mille Lacs County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $261,262. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $73,972 median income, cost of living beats 53% of counties.
Is Mille Lacs County safe?
Yes, Mille Lacs County is safer than 88% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $254 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Mille Lacs County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 25 with lows near 9. That works out to about 119 pleasant days a year, more than 74% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Mille Lacs County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Foreston, Milaca, and Princeton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Mille Lacs County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mille Lacs County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mille Lacs County 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.
Mille Lacs County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mille Lacs County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mille Lacs County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mille Lacs County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mille Lacs County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mille Lacs County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.