Best PlacesPennock, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pennock, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pennock ranks 9,619th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pennock
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.
Pennock's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pennock ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 138 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 85% of towns
Where Pennock ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 25% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 28% of towns
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 30% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 39% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pennock
A household needs to earn about $88,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pennock home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $94,157, 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 Pennock's effective rate of 0.89%, 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 Pennock
Pennock runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pennock.
Who works in Pennock, and how
Work in Pennock centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Pennock
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pennock.
What the weather is like in Pennock, month by month
Pennock sees roughly 138 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 16° | 8° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 34° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 59° | 48° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Pennock
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 57 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 96 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pennock
Schools across Pennock average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Prairie Woods ElementaryA− · 59% proficient
- Murdock ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Belgrade-brooten-elrosa ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- New London-spicer MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- Willmar Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- New London-spicer Sr.B+ · 57% proficient
- Willmar Senior HighB− · 43% proficient
- Belgrade-brooten-elrosa Sec.C · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pennock school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pennock 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 Pennock against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pennock
Is Pennock a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pennock ranks 9,619th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, state infrastructure, and the weather, and lowest on taxes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pennock expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $334,132. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $94,157 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is Pennock safe?
Pennock is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $314 per resident a year.
Compare Pennock with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pennock. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pennock 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.
Pennock detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pennock: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pennock: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pennock: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pennock: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pennock 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.