Best PlacesUlen, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ulen, 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.
Ulen ranks 16,898th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ulen
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.
Ulen's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ulen ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 147 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 84% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Ulen ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 17% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 18% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ulen
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ulen home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,400, 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 Ulen'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 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 Ulen
Ulen runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ulen.
Who works in Ulen, and how
Work in Ulen centers on health care & social and manufacturing. 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 4%
Life in Ulen
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ulen.
What the weather is like in Ulen, month by month
Ulen sees roughly 147 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 20, with lows near 4. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 12° | 4° |
| April | 50° | 40° | 32° |
| July | 80° | 71° | 62° |
| October | 54° | 45° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Ulen
The nearest airport, Hector International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 210 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ulen
Schools across Ulen average a B, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ulen-hitterdal ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Lake Park Audubon ElementaryB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Lake Park Audubon SecondaryC+ · 40% proficient
- Ulen-hitterdal SecondaryC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ulen school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ulen 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 Ulen against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ulen
Is Ulen a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ulen ranks 16,898th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, the weather, and walkability, and lowest on civic engagement and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ulen expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $273,800. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $86,400 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Ulen safe?
Ulen is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $304 per resident a year.
Compare Ulen with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ulen. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ulen 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.
Ulen detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ulen: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ulen: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ulen: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ulen: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ulen 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.