Best PlacesParkers Prairie, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Parkers Prairie, 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.
Parkers Prairie ranks 18,216th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Parkers Prairie
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.
Parkers Prairie's strengths and weaknesses
Where Parkers Prairie ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 146 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 87% of towns
Where Parkers Prairie ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 20% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Parkers Prairie
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Parkers Prairie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,107, 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 Parkers Prairie's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Parkers Prairie
Parkers Prairie runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Parkers Prairie.
Who works in Parkers Prairie, and how
Work in Parkers Prairie centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Parkers Prairie
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Parkers Prairie.
What the weather is like in Parkers Prairie, month by month
Parkers Prairie sees roughly 146 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 21, with lows near 6. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21° | 13° | 6° |
| April | 53° | 42° | 33° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 57° | 47° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Parkers Prairie
The nearest airport, Brainerd Lakes Regional, is about 60 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 135 miles away.
The best schools in and around Parkers Prairie
Schools across Parkers Prairie average a B, better than 65% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Miltona ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Bertha ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Parkers Prairie ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Discovery Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Alexandria Area High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Parkers Prairie SecondaryB− · 42% proficient
- Bertha SecondaryC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Parkers Prairie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Parkers Prairie 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 Parkers Prairie against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Parkers Prairie
Is Parkers Prairie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Parkers Prairie ranks 18,216th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, state infrastructure, and the weather, and lowest on noise and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Parkers Prairie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $213,696. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $67,107 median income, cost of living beats 30% of towns.
Is Parkers Prairie safe?
Yes, Parkers Prairie is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $180 per resident a year.
Compare Parkers Prairie with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Parkers Prairie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Parkers Prairie 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.
Parkers Prairie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Parkers Prairie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Parkers Prairie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Parkers Prairie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Parkers Prairie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Parkers Prairie 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.