Best PlacesMountain Iron, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mountain Iron, 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.
Mountain Iron ranks 16,393rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mountain Iron
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.
Mountain Iron's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mountain Iron ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute17.2 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 131 pleasant days a year, better than 86% of towns
Where Mountain Iron ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mountain Iron
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mountain Iron home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,533, 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 Mountain Iron's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mountain Iron
Mountain Iron 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 Mountain Iron.
Who works in Mountain Iron, and how
Work in Mountain Iron centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Mountain Iron
Mountain Iron has more restaurants and bars per resident than 83% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Mountain Iron and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mountain Iron, month by month
Mountain Iron sees roughly 131 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 20, with lows near 2. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 11° | 2° |
| April | 49° | 37° | 27° |
| July | 79° | 66° | 54° |
| October | 53° | 43° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Mountain Iron
The nearest airport, Range Regional, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 184 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mountain Iron
Schools across Mountain Iron average a B−, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cherry ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Merritt ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Mountain Iron-buhl SecondaryC+ · 40% proficient
- Virginia SecondaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Cherry SecondaryC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mountain Iron school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mountain Iron 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 Mountain Iron against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mountain Iron
Is Mountain Iron a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mountain Iron ranks 16,393rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, short commutes, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mountain Iron expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $205,401. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $77,533 median income, cost of living beats 72% of towns.
Is Mountain Iron safe?
Mountain Iron is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $503 per resident a year.
Compare Mountain Iron with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mountain Iron. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mountain Iron 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.
Mountain Iron detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mountain Iron: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mountain Iron: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mountain Iron: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mountain Iron: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mountain Iron 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.