Best PlacesOsage, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Osage, 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.
Osage ranks 21,537th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Osage
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.
Osage's strengths and weaknesses
Where Osage ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 134 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 77% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 76% of towns
Where Osage ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Osage
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Osage home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,151, 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 Osage's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Osage
Osage runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Osage.
Who works in Osage, and how
Work in Osage centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Osage
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Osage.
What the weather is like in Osage, month by month
Osage sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 20, with lows near 2. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 11° | 2° |
| April | 51° | 40° | 30° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 55° | 45° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Osage
The nearest airport, Bemidji Regional, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 173 miles away.
The best schools in and around Osage
Schools across Osage average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Park Rapids Area Century ElementaryA · 64% proficient
- Frazee ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
- Pine Point ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Park Rapids Area Century MiddleC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Perham Senior HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Park Rapids Senior HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Frazee SecondaryC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Osage school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Osage 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 Osage against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Osage
Is Osage a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Osage ranks 21,537th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, heat safety, and the weather, and lowest on empty homes and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Osage expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $271,135. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $74,151 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Osage safe?
Yes, Osage is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $275 per resident a year.
Compare Osage with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Osage. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Osage 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.
Osage detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Osage: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Osage: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Osage: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Osage: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Osage 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.