Best PlacesMoorhead, MS 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 48,032nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and the schools rank 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
- Short commute17.0 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- Cheap childcare$532 a month, better than 89% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 85% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 83% of towns
- BikingBetter than 82% of towns
Where Moorhead ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$38,354 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Moorhead
A household needs to earn about $20,000 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 $38,354, 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 0.55%, 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 4 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 younger than the country.
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 retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 2%
- 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 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 46° | 37° |
| April | 77° | 65° | 55° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 80° | 66° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Moorhead
The nearest airport, Greenville Mid-Delta, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 114 miles away.
The best schools in and around Moorhead
Schools across Moorhead average an F, better than 2% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Moorhead Central SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Leflore County High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
- Gentry High SchoolF · 8% 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 48,032nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, affordable childcare, and walkability, and lowest on the schools and thin health care access. 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 $79,207. The overall cost of living runs about 33% below the national average. Set against a $38,354 median income, cost of living beats 11% of towns.
Is Moorhead safe?
Moorhead is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $316 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.