Best PlacesMoorhead, IA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Moorhead, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Moorhead ranks 16,877th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Moorhead
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.
Moorhead's strengths and weaknesses
Where Moorhead ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 90% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 85% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 82% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 80% of towns
Where Moorhead ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 9% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 22% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 23% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 28% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Moorhead
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Moorhead home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,556, 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 Moorhead's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Moorhead
Moorhead 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 Moorhead.
Who works in Moorhead, and how
Work in Moorhead centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Moorhead
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Moorhead.
What the weather is like in Moorhead, month by month
Moorhead sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 23° | 15° |
| April | 66° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 67° | 52° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Moorhead
The nearest airport, Sioux Gateway/Brig General Bud Day Field, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 43 miles away.
The best schools in and around Moorhead
Schools across Moorhead average an A−, better than 85% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Boyer Valley Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Woodbine Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- West Monona ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Monona Middle SchA · 60% proficient
- Charter Oak-ute Junior High SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Logan-magnolia Jr-sr High SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Woodbine High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- West Monona High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Moorhead school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Moorhead 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 Moorhead against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Moorhead
Is Moorhead a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Moorhead ranks 16,877th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, quiet, and good schools, and lowest on cell coverage and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Moorhead expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $150,384. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $70,556 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Moorhead safe?
Moorhead is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $290 per resident a year.
Compare Moorhead with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Moorhead. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Moorhead 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.
Moorhead detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Moorhead: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Moorhead: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Moorhead: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Moorhead: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Moorhead 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.