Best PlacesPlummer, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Plummer, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Plummer ranks 10,290th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Plummer
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.
Plummer's strengths and weaknesses
Where Plummer ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 141 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of towns
Where Plummer ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Plummer
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Plummer home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $95,502, 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 Plummer's effective rate of 0.83%, 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 Plummer
Plummer's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Plummer.
Who works in Plummer, and how
Work in Plummer centers on retail trade and wholesale trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Plummer
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Plummer.
What the weather is like in Plummer, month by month
Plummer sees roughly 141 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 19, with lows near 0. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 19° | 9° | 0° |
| April | 50° | 39° | 29° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 58° |
| October | 55° | 44° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Plummer
The nearest airport, Thief River Falls Regional, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 249 miles away.
The best schools in and around Plummer
Schools across Plummer average a B−, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Red Lake County Central ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Challenger ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Franklin MiddleC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Lafayette SecondaryB− · 42% proficient
- Red Lake County Central High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Goodridge SecondaryD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Plummer school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Plummer 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 Plummer against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Plummer
Is Plummer a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Plummer ranks 10,290th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, fast internet, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Plummer expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $208,967. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $95,502 median income, cost of living beats 89% of towns.
Is Plummer safe?
Yes, Plummer is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $236 per resident a year.
Compare Plummer with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Plummer. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Plummer 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.
Plummer detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Plummer: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Plummer: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Plummer: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Plummer: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Plummer 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.