Best PlacesSunfish Lake, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sunfish Lake, 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.
Sunfish Lake ranks 20,465th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sunfish Lake
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.
Sunfish Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sunfish Lake ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
Where Sunfish Lake ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,682 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sunfish Lake
A household needs to earn about $251,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sunfish Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $75,500, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Sunfish Lake'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 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 Sunfish Lake
Sunfish Lake runs younger 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 Sunfish Lake.
Who works in Sunfish Lake, and how
Work in Sunfish Lake centers on health care & social and arts & entertainment. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 18%
Life in Sunfish Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sunfish Lake.
What the weather is like in Sunfish Lake, month by month
Sunfish Lake sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 19° | 13° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 37° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Sunfish Lake
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 6 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 Sunfish Lake
Schools across Sunfish Lake average a B, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Atheneum ElementaryA+ · 93% proficient
- Garlough Environmental MagnetB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Friendly Hills MiddleB · 43% proficient
- Inver Grove Heights MiddleD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Two Rivers High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Simley Senior HighB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sunfish Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sunfish Lake 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 Sunfish Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sunfish Lake
Is Sunfish Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sunfish Lake ranks 20,465th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, few empty homes, and population health, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sunfish Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $945,300. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $75,500 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Sunfish Lake safe?
Sunfish Lake is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $408 per resident a year.
Compare Sunfish Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sunfish Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sunfish Lake 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.
Sunfish Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sunfish Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sunfish Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sunfish Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sunfish Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sunfish Lake 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.