Best PlacesPalo, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Palo, 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.
Palo ranks 16,084th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Palo
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.
Palo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Palo ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 134 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of towns
Where Palo ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Short commute32.9 minutes each way, better than only 20% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 26% of towns
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Palo
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Palo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,750, 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 Palo's effective rate of 0.80%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Palo
Palo 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 Palo.
Who works in Palo, and how
Work in Palo centers on transportation & warehousing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Palo
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Palo.
What the weather is like in Palo, month by month
Palo sees roughly 134 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 Palo
The nearest airport, Range Regional, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 182 miles away.
The best schools in and around Palo
Schools across Palo average a C+, better than 42% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mesabi East ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Mesabi East SecondaryC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Palo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Palo 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 Palo against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Palo
Is Palo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Palo ranks 16,084th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, low disaster risk, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Palo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $179,582. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $78,750 median income, cost of living beats 76% of towns.
Is Palo safe?
Palo is safer than 45% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $320 per resident a year.
Compare Palo with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Palo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Palo 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.
Palo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Palo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Palo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Palo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Palo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Palo 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.