Best PlacesMoorhead, MN 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. 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.
Moorhead ranks 787th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and distance from a big city 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
- BikingBetter than 95% of cities
- Short commute18.1 minutes each way, better than 93% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of cities
Where Moorhead ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 21% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 23% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 28% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Moorhead
A household needs to earn about $75,000 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 $76,432, 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 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 Moorhead
Moorhead runs younger 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 health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Moorhead
Moorhead has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of cities and more parkland per resident than 93% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Moorhead and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Moorhead, month by month
Moorhead sees roughly 133 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 20, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 12° | 5° |
| April | 51° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 57° | 46° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Moorhead
The nearest airport, Hector International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 218 miles away.
The best schools in and around Moorhead
Schools across Moorhead average a B, better than 59% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Longfellow Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- S.g. Reinertsen ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
- Spring Prairie ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ben Franklin Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Dilworth-glyndon-felton Middle SchC+ · 39% proficient
- Horizon Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Hawley SecondaryB+ · 58% proficient
- Moorhead High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Dilworth-glyndon-felton Senior HighB · 50% 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 2,097 cities.
Who Moorhead suits
Common questions about living in Moorhead
Is Moorhead a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Moorhead ranks 787th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, short commutes, and heat safety, and lowest on distance from a big city and tree cover. 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 $272,030. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $76,432 median income, cost of living beats 42% of cities.
Is Moorhead safe?
Yes, Moorhead is safer than 68% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $277 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Moorhead?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 20 with lows near 5. That works out to about 133 pleasant days a year, more than 77% of cities.
Is Moorhead good for families?
Schools beat 59% of cities, crime safety beats 68%, and childcare runs $948 a month.
Compare Moorhead with other cities
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.