Best PlacesStearns County, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Stearns County, 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.
Stearns County ranks 449th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on state infrastructure and heat safety. The weaker spots are childcare costs, taxes, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in Stearns 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 Stearns County
The parts of Stearns 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.
Sartell
More households have young kids, fewer homes sit empty, and more residents vote.
St. Augusta
Local pay stretches further and incomes run higher.
Avon & Albany
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Cold Spring, Richmond & Rockville
Schools score higher and crime runs lower.
Paynesville
Health care is easier to reach, though fewer adults hold degrees.
St. Joseph
Scores close to Paynesville, except that health outcomes score higher here.
Sauk Centre & Melrose
Homes cost less, though prices have run up more.
St. Cloud
Streets are more walkable.
Stearns County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 10% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Stearns County's strengths and weaknesses
Stearns County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. State infrastructure, heat safety, and cell coverage carry most of that.
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 Stearns County ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 91% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of counties
- BikingBetter than 88% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 88% of counties
Where Stearns County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,847 a month, better than only 1% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 20% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 32% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 35% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Stearns County
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stearns County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,385, 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 Stearns County's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 Stearns County
Stearns County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Stearns County.
Who works in Stearns County, and how
Work in Stearns County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Stearns County
Stearns County has more parkland per resident than 68% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Stearns County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Stearns County growing, and who is moving in?
Stearns County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Minneapolis, MN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Stearns County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Stearns County, month by month
Stearns County sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 23, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23° | 15° | 7° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 33° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 58° | 47° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Stearns County
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 72 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stearns County
Schools across Stearns County average a B−, better than 61% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Holdingford ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Richmond ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Riverview Intermediate SchoolA · 64% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sartell MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- Albany Area Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Annandale Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Sartell Senior HighA− · 63% proficient
- Albany Area High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Rocori Senior HighB+ · 54% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stearns County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stearns 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 Stearns County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Stearns County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 11% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 76% of counties and health care access beats 71%.
Common questions about living in Stearns County
Is Stearns County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stearns County ranks 449th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state infrastructure, heat safety, and cell coverage, 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 Stearns County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $285,457. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $82,385 median income, cost of living beats 77% of counties.
Is Stearns County safe?
Yes, Stearns County is safer than 85% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $275 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Stearns County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 23 with lows near 7. That works out to about 123 pleasant days a year, more than 76% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Stearns County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Sartell, St. Augusta, and Avon & Albany. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Stearns County good for families?
Schools beat 61% of counties, crime safety beats 85%, and childcare runs $1,847 a month.
Is Stearns County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 69% of counties. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Stearns County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stearns County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stearns 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.
Stearns County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stearns County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stearns County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stearns County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stearns County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stearns 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.