Best PlacesRustad, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rustad, 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.
Rustad ranks 5,870th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rustad
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.
Rustad's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rustad ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Household income$116,250 median, better than 92% of towns
Where Rustad ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rustad
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rustad home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $116,250, 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 Rustad's effective rate of 1.23%, 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 Rustad
Rustad'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 Rustad.
Who works in Rustad, and how
Work in Rustad centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Rustad
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rustad.
What the weather is like in Rustad, month by month
Rustad sees roughly 141 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 20, with lows near 5. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 12° | 5° |
| April | 51° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 57° | 46° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Rustad
The nearest airport, Hector International, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 212 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rustad
Schools across Rustad average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Barnesville ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
- S.g. Reinertsen ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- Horizon Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Moorhead High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rustad school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rustad 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 Rustad against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rustad
Is Rustad a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rustad ranks 5,870th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, population health, and what local pay buys, and lowest on civic engagement and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rustad expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $300,700. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $116,250 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is Rustad safe?
Yes, Rustad is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $196 per resident a year.
Compare Rustad with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rustad. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rustad 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.
Rustad detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rustad: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rustad: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rustad: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rustad: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rustad 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.