Best PlacesPope County, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Pope County, 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.
Pope County ranks 1,017th of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Pope County
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.
Pope County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pope County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 91% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 142 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of counties
- School gradeB, better than 76% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 74% of counties
Where Pope County ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 17% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 20% of counties
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 22% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 22% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Pope County
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pope County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,617, 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 Pope County's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Pope County
Pope County 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 Pope County.
Who works in Pope County, and how
Work in Pope County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Pope County
Pope County has more parkland per resident than 97% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Pope County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Pope County growing, and who is moving in?
Pope County has grown about 5% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Douglas County, MN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Pope County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Pope County, month by month
Pope County sees roughly 142 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 21, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21° | 13° | 5° |
| April | 53° | 41° | 33° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 57° | 46° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Pope County
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 67 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 120 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pope County
Schools across Pope County average a B, better than 76% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Osakis ElementaryA+ · 74% proficient
- Minnewaska Area ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Hancock ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Minnewaska Area Intermediate SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Discovery Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Wca Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Alexandria Area High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Hancock Sec.B · 50% proficient
- Sauk Centre SecondaryB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pope County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pope County 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 Pope County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Pope County
Is Pope County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pope County ranks 1,017th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, state infrastructure, and the weather, and lowest on taxes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pope County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $269,431. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $77,617 median income, cost of living beats 63% of counties.
Is Pope County safe?
Yes, Pope County is safer than 74% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $283 per resident a year.
Compare Pope County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pope County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pope County 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.
Pope County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pope County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pope County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pope County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pope County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pope County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.