Best PlacesSkyline, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Skyline, 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.
Skyline ranks 3,218th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Skyline
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.
Skyline's strengths and weaknesses
Where Skyline ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute15.7 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
Where Skyline ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 30% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 31% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 31% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Skyline
A household needs to earn about $88,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Skyline home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $93,618, 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 Skyline'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 Skyline
Skyline runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Skyline.
Who works in Skyline, and how
Work in Skyline centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Skyline
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Skyline.
What the weather is like in Skyline, month by month
Skyline sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 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° | 45° | 37° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Skyline
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 65 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 Skyline
Schools across Skyline average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bridges Community ElementaryA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dakota Meadows Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Mankato West Senior HighA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Skyline school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Skyline 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 Skyline against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Skyline
Is Skyline a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Skyline ranks 3,218th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, civic engagement, and short commutes, and lowest on taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Skyline expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $330,500. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $93,618 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Skyline safe?
Yes, Skyline is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $188 per resident a year.
Compare Skyline with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Skyline. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Skyline 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.
Skyline detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Skyline: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Skyline: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Skyline: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Skyline: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Skyline 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.