Best PlacesStephen, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stephen, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Stephen ranks 12,986th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Stephen
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.
Stephen's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stephen ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
Where Stephen ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 20% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Stephen
A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stephen home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,004, 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 Stephen's effective rate of 0.91%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Stephen
Stephen 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 Stephen.
Who works in Stephen, and how
Work in Stephen centers on agriculture & forestry and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Stephen
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Stephen.
What the weather is like in Stephen, month by month
Stephen sees roughly 141 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 17, with lows near 1. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 17° | 9° | 1° |
| April | 50° | 39° | 30° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 58° |
| October | 54° | 44° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Stephen
The nearest airport, Grand Forks International, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 301 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stephen
Schools across Stephen average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Argyle ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Warren ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- Karlstad ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Stephen Senior HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Tri-county SecondaryC · 34% proficient
- Warren-alvarado-oslo SecondaryC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stephen school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stephen 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 Stephen against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Stephen
Is Stephen a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stephen ranks 12,986th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, civic engagement, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stephen expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $109,654. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $78,004 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Stephen safe?
Yes, Stephen is safer than 59% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $276 per resident a year.
Compare Stephen with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stephen. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stephen 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.
Stephen detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stephen: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stephen: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stephen: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stephen: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stephen 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.