Best PlacesOklee, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oklee, 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.
Oklee ranks 14,579th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Oklee
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.
Oklee's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oklee ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 146 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Oklee ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 15% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oklee
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oklee home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,668, 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 Oklee's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 Oklee
Oklee'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 Oklee.
Who works in Oklee, and how
Work in Oklee centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Oklee
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Oklee.
What the weather is like in Oklee, month by month
Oklee sees roughly 146 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 17, with lows near 0. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 17° | 8° | 0° |
| April | 49° | 38° | 29° |
| July | 79° | 67° | 57° |
| October | 53° | 42° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Oklee
The nearest airport, Thief River Falls Regional, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 240 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oklee
Schools across Oklee average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Win-e-mac ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- Red Lake County Central ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Goodridge ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Win-e-mac SecondaryB− · 43% proficient
- Red Lake County Central High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Clearbrook-gonvick SecondaryC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oklee school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oklee 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 Oklee against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oklee
Is Oklee a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oklee ranks 14,579th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, walkability, and state infrastructure, 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 Oklee expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $163,120. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $72,668 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Oklee safe?
Yes, Oklee is safer than 65% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $261 per resident a year.
Compare Oklee with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oklee. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oklee 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.
Oklee detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oklee: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oklee: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oklee: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oklee: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oklee 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.