Best PlacesScandia, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Scandia, 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.
Scandia ranks 3,716th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Scandia
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.
Scandia's strengths and weaknesses
Where Scandia ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 90% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of towns
Where Scandia ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,560 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Short commute31.9 minutes each way, better than only 24% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 36% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 43% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Scandia
A household needs to earn about $124,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Scandia home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $108,409, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Scandia's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 Scandia
Scandia runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Scandia.
Who works in Scandia, and how
Work in Scandia centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Scandia
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Scandia.
What the weather is like in Scandia, month by month
Scandia sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 59° | 48° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Scandia
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 33 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 17.5 million passengers in 2025, with 195 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Scandia
Schools across Scandia average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Scandia ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- Lakeside El.B+ · 55% proficient
- Hinckley ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Osceola MiddleA− · 58% proficient
- Stillwater Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Forest Lake Area Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Stillwater Area High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
- Chisago Lakes Senior HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Forest Lake Area High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Scandia school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Scandia 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 Scandia against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Scandia
Is Scandia a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Scandia ranks 3,716th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, civic engagement, and state infrastructure, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Scandia expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $471,562. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $108,409 median income, cost of living beats 89% of towns.
Is Scandia safe?
Yes, Scandia is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $214 per resident a year.
Compare Scandia with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Scandia. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Scandia 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.
Scandia detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Scandia: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Scandia: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Scandia: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Scandia: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Scandia 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.