Best PlacesShooks, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shooks, 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.
Shooks ranks 28,647th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Shooks
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.
Shooks' strengths and weaknesses
Where Shooks ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 144 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 88% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 68% of towns
Where Shooks ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shooks
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shooks home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,541, 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 Shooks' effective rate of 0.70%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Shooks
Shooks 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 Shooks.
Who works in Shooks, and how
Work in Shooks centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Shooks
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shooks.
What the weather is like in Shooks, month by month
Shooks sees roughly 144 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 19, with lows near 3. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 19° | 11° | 3° |
| April | 49° | 39° | 30° |
| July | 80° | 69° | 59° |
| October | 54° | 45° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Shooks
The nearest airport, Bemidji Regional, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 214 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shooks
Schools across Shooks average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bigfork ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Northome ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Kelliher ElementaryC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Blackduck SecondaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Bigfork SecondaryC · 34% proficient
- Northome SecondaryD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shooks school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shooks 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 Shooks against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shooks
Is Shooks a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shooks ranks 28,647th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, the weather, and quiet, and lowest on distance from a big city and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shooks expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $200,775. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $68,541 median income, cost of living beats 45% of towns.
Is Shooks safe?
Shooks is safer than 49% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $310 per resident a year.
Compare Shooks with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shooks. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shooks 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.
Shooks detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shooks: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shooks: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shooks: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shooks: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shooks 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.