Best PlacesViking, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Viking, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Viking ranks 14,360th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Viking
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.
Viking's strengths and weaknesses
Where Viking ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 140 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Viking ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 13% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Viking
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Viking home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,860, 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 Viking's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Viking
Viking 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 Viking.
Who works in Viking, and how
Work in Viking centers on agriculture & forestry and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Viking
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Viking.
What the weather is like in Viking, month by month
Viking sees roughly 140 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 19, with lows near 0. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 19° | 9° | 0° |
| April | 50° | 39° | 29° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 58° |
| October | 55° | 44° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Viking
The nearest airport, Thief River Falls Regional, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 276 miles away.
The best schools in and around Viking
Schools across Viking average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Warren ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- Challenger ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Franklin MiddleC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Lincoln Senior HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Marshall County Central HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Warren-alvarado-oslo SecondaryC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Viking school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Viking 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 Viking against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Viking
Is Viking a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Viking ranks 14,360th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low crime, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Viking expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $220,633. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $86,860 median income, cost of living beats 80% of towns.
Is Viking safe?
Yes, Viking is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $174 per resident a year.
Compare Viking with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Viking. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Viking 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.
Viking detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Viking: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Viking: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Viking: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Viking: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Viking 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.