Best PlacesScott County, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Scott County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Scott County ranks 14th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $128,461, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, taxes, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in Scott 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.
The best areas in Scott County
The parts of Scott County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Prior Lake
Local pay stretches further, more residents vote, and crime runs lower.
Savage
More adults hold degrees and tree cover is thicker.
Elko New Market, Lakeville & Elko
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Shakopee
Incomes run lower and health care is harder to reach.
Belle Plaine & New Prague
More households have young kids, though prices have run up more.
Jordan
Commutes are longer and health outcomes score lower.
Scores across Scott County run from about the 32nd to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Scott County's strengths and weaknesses
Scott County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. What local pay buys is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Few empty homes and high incomes follow.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. Taxes and noise also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Scott County ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 99% of counties
- Household income$128,461 median, better than 98% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of counties
Where Scott County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,682 a month, better than only 1% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 18% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 33% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 43% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Scott County
A household needs to earn about $117,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Scott County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $128,461, 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 Scott County's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Scott County
Scott County'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 Scott County.
Who works in Scott County, and how
Work in Scott 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 78%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Scott County
Scott County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 73% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Scott County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Scott County growing, and who is moving in?
Scott County has grown about 13% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Minneapolis, MN metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Scott County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Scott County, month by month
Scott County sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 18° | 11° |
| April | 57° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Scott County
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 17 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 Scott County
Schools across Scott County average a B, better than 80% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Westwood ElementaryA · 69% proficient
- Jeffers Pond ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Glendale ElementaryA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jordan MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- New Prague Middle SchoolA− · 52% proficient
- Mcguire MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- New Prague Senior HighA− · 66% proficient
- Prior Lake High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Lakeville South HighA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Scott County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Scott 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 Scott County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Scott County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 100% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 20% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 79% of counties and health care access beats 87%.
Common questions about living in Scott County
Is Scott County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Scott County ranks 14th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, few empty homes, and high incomes, 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 Scott County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $437,512. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $128,461 median income, cost of living beats 100% of counties.
Is Scott County safe?
Yes, Scott County is safer than 98% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $201 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Scott County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 26 with lows near 11. That works out to about 126 pleasant days a year, more than 79% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Scott County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Prior Lake, Savage, and Elko New Market, Lakeville & Elko. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Scott County good for families?
Schools beat 80% of counties, crime safety beats 98%, and childcare runs $1,682 a month.
Is Scott County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 100% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 80% of counties. About 20% of workers already work from home.
Compare Scott County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Scott County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Scott 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.
Scott County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Scott County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Scott County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Scott County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Scott County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Scott 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.