Best PlacesUrbank, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Urbank, 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.
Urbank ranks 11,000th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Urbank
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.
Urbank's strengths and weaknesses
Where Urbank ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 146 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 79% of towns
Where Urbank ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$983 a month, better than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Urbank
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Urbank home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,431, 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 Urbank's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Urbank
Urbank runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Urbank.
Who works in Urbank, and how
Work in Urbank centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Urbank
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Urbank.
What the weather is like in Urbank, month by month
Urbank sees roughly 146 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 21, with lows near 6. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21° | 13° | 6° |
| April | 53° | 42° | 33° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 57° | 47° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Urbank
The nearest airport, Brainerd Lakes Regional, is about 69 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 142 miles away.
The best schools in and around Urbank
Schools across Urbank average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Battle Lake ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Parkers Prairie ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Henning ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brandon-evansville Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Brandon-evansville High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Battle Lake SecondaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Henning SecondaryB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Urbank school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Urbank 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 Urbank against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Urbank
Is Urbank a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Urbank ranks 11,000th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, the weather, and health care access, and lowest on empty homes and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Urbank expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $331,639. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $89,431 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Urbank safe?
Yes, Urbank is safer than 88% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $189 per resident a year.
Compare Urbank with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Urbank. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Urbank 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.
Urbank detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Urbank: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Urbank: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Urbank: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Urbank: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Urbank 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.