Best PlacesWabasha County, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Wabasha County, 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.
Wabasha County ranks 592nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wabasha County
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.
The best areas in Wabasha County
The parts of Wabasha County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Plainview
More households have young kids, it is quieter, and fewer homes sit empty.
Lake City
Local pay stretches less far and incomes run lower.
Wabasha
Tree cover is thicker, though crime runs higher.
Scores across Wabasha County run from about the 18th to the 86th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Wabasha County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wabasha County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 91% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 84% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 82% of counties
Where Wabasha County ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of counties
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 22% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 31% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 36% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 36% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Wabasha County
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wabasha County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,380, 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 Wabasha County's effective rate of 0.99%, 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 Wabasha County
Wabasha County 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 Wabasha County.
Who works in Wabasha County, and how
Work in Wabasha County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Wabasha County
Wabasha County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of counties and more parkland per resident than 82% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wabasha County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Wabasha County growing, and who is moving in?
Wabasha County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Rochester, MN metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wabasha County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wabasha County, month by month
Wabasha County sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 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° | 38° |
| July | 82° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Wabasha County
The nearest airport, Rochester International, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 64 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wabasha County
Schools across Wabasha County average a B+, better than 82% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Plainview-elgin-millville Pk-3A · 65% proficient
- Washington District-wide ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Jefferson ElementaryA · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pine Island MiddleA− · 58% proficient
- Plainview-elgin-millville 4-6A− · 57% proficient
- Plainview-elgin-millville JuniorA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Plainview-elgin-millville HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Zumbrota-mazeppa Senior HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Century Senior HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wabasha County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wabasha County 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 Wabasha County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Wabasha County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of counties and 11% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 57% of counties and health care access beats 96%.
Common questions about living in Wabasha County
Is Wabasha County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wabasha County ranks 592nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, low crime, and state infrastructure, and lowest on taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wabasha County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $280,345. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $82,380 median income, cost of living beats 72% of counties.
Is Wabasha County safe?
Yes, Wabasha County is safer than 93% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $237 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wabasha County?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 26 with lows near 13. That works out to about 95 pleasant days a year, more than 57% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Wabasha County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Plainview, Lake City, and Wabasha. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Wabasha County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wabasha County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wabasha County 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.
Wabasha County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wabasha County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wabasha County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wabasha County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wabasha County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wabasha County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.