Best PlacesNett Lake, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Nett Lake, 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.
Nett Lake ranks 23,712th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Nett Lake
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.
Nett Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Nett Lake ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- QuietBetter than 82% of towns
Where Nett Lake ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 14% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Nett Lake
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Nett Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,490, 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 Nett Lake's effective rate of 0.76%, 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 Nett Lake
Nett Lake 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 Nett Lake.
Who works in Nett Lake, and how
Work in Nett Lake centers on public administration and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Nett Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Nett Lake.
What the weather is like in Nett Lake, month by month
Nett Lake sees roughly 122 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 18, with lows near 2. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18° | 10° | 2° |
| April | 49° | 37° | 27° |
| July | 79° | 66° | 55° |
| October | 52° | 43° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Nett Lake
The nearest airport, Falls International/Einarson Field, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 223 miles away.
The best schools in and around Nett Lake
Schools across Nett Lake average a C+, better than 53% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Woods ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Falls ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Littlefork-big Falls ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Littlefork-big Falls SecondaryB+ · 53% proficient
- North Woods SecondaryC · 32% proficient
- Northome SecondaryD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Nett Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Nett Lake 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 Nett Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Nett Lake
Is Nett Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Nett Lake ranks 23,712th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, state infrastructure, and clean air, and lowest on distance from a big city and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Nett Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $232,941. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $75,490 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Nett Lake safe?
Nett Lake is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $466 per resident a year.
Compare Nett Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Nett Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Nett Lake 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.
Nett Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Nett Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Nett Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Nett Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Nett Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Nett Lake 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.