Best PlacesMinatare, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Minatare, 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.
Minatare ranks 31,107th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Minatare
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.
Minatare's strengths and weaknesses
Where Minatare ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute18.1 minutes each way, better than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 136 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 78% of towns
Where Minatare ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Minatare
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Minatare home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,663, 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 Minatare's effective rate of 1.16%, 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 Minatare
Minatare'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 Minatare.
Who works in Minatare, and how
Work in Minatare centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Minatare
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Minatare.
What the weather is like in Minatare, month by month
Minatare sees roughly 136 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 27° | 14° |
| April | 67° | 47° | 31° |
| July | 95° | 75° | 59° |
| October | 69° | 49° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Minatare
The nearest airport, Scottsbluff/Western Nebraska Regional/Wm B Heilig Field, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 151 miles away.
The best schools in and around Minatare
Schools across Minatare average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lake Minatare SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Bayard Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Minatare Elementary SchoolD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bluffs Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Scottsbluff Senior High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Minatare High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Bayard Secondary SchoolD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Minatare school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Minatare 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 Minatare against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Minatare
Is Minatare a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Minatare ranks 31,107th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, short commutes, and the weather, and lowest on a weak job market and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Minatare expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $173,211. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $63,663 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Minatare safe?
Minatare is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $355 per resident a year.
Compare Minatare with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Minatare. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Minatare 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.
Minatare detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Minatare: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Minatare: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Minatare: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Minatare: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Minatare 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.