Best PlacesPopple Creek, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Popple Creek, 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.
Popple Creek ranks 10,626th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Popple Creek
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.
Popple Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Popple Creek ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 87% of towns
- Household income$104,235 median, better than 87% of towns
Where Popple Creek ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,079 a month, better than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Popple Creek
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Popple Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $104,235, 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 Popple Creek's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Popple Creek
Popple Creek's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Popple Creek.
Who works in Popple Creek, and how
Work in Popple Creek centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Popple Creek
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Popple Creek.
What the weather is like in Popple Creek, month by month
Popple Creek sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 23, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23° | 15° | 7° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 33° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 58° | 47° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Popple Creek
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 65 miles away.
The best schools in and around Popple Creek
Schools across Popple Creek average a B, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Foley ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Mississippi Heights ElementaryB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- Foley Intermediate ElementaryB+ · 48% proficient
- Sauk Rapids-rice Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Sauk Rapids-rice Senior HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Foley Senior HighB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Popple Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Popple Creek 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 Popple Creek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Popple Creek
Is Popple Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Popple Creek ranks 10,626th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, heat safety, and state infrastructure, and lowest on internet speeds and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Popple Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $369,137. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $104,235 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Popple Creek safe?
Popple Creek is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $733 per resident a year.
Compare Popple Creek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Popple Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Popple Creek 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.
Popple Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Popple Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Popple Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Popple Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Popple Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Popple Creek 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.