Best PlacesNew Ulm, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around New Ulm, 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.
New Ulm ranks 6,873rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in New Ulm
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.
New Ulm's strengths and weaknesses
Where New Ulm ranks high
- Short commute13.1 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
Where New Ulm ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 28% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 34% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in New Ulm
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median New Ulm home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,357, 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 New Ulm's effective rate of 1.05%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in New Ulm
New Ulm's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 New Ulm.
Who works in New Ulm, and how
Work in New Ulm centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in New Ulm
New Ulm has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of New Ulm and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in New Ulm, month by month
New Ulm sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 16° | 9° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 59° | 48° | 40° |
Flying in and out of New Ulm
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 73 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 17.5 million passengers in 2025, with 195 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around New Ulm
Schools across New Ulm average a B+, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lk Crystal Wellcome Memorial ElA · 70% proficient
- Nicollet Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Sleepy Eye ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- New Ulm Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- New Ulm High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
- Nicollet High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Sleepy Eye Sec.B · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every New Ulm school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
New Ulm 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 New Ulm against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in New Ulm
Is New Ulm a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, New Ulm ranks 6,873rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, biking, and cell coverage, and lowest on noise and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is New Ulm expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $224,681. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $72,357 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is New Ulm safe?
Yes, New Ulm is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $207 per resident a year.
Compare New Ulm with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to New Ulm. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in New Ulm 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.
New Ulm detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for New Ulm: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in New Ulm: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of New Ulm: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in New Ulm: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
New Ulm 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.