Best PlacesTraverse, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Traverse, 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.
Traverse ranks 6,693rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Traverse
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.
Traverse's strengths and weaknesses
Where Traverse ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute20.6 minutes each way, better than 86% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 83% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 82% of towns
Where Traverse ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 22% of towns
- Cheap childcare$989 a month, better than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Traverse
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Traverse home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,734, 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 Traverse's effective rate of 1.04%, 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 Traverse
Traverse's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Traverse.
Who works in Traverse, and how
Work in Traverse centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Traverse
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Traverse.
What the weather is like in Traverse, month by month
Traverse 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 Traverse
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 53 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 Traverse
Schools across Traverse average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top middle schools
- St. Peter Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- St. Peter High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Traverse school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Traverse 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 Traverse against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Traverse
Is Traverse a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Traverse ranks 6,693rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, state infrastructure, and short commutes, and lowest on tree cover and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Traverse expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $303,807. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $83,734 median income, cost of living beats 73% of towns.
Is Traverse safe?
Yes, Traverse is safer than 94% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $165 per resident a year.
Compare Traverse with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Traverse. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Traverse 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.
Traverse detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Traverse: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Traverse: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Traverse: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Traverse: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Traverse 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.