Best PlacesWadena, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wadena, 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.
Wadena ranks 17,515th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wadena
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.
Wadena's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wadena ranks high
- Short commute17.6 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 145 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
Where Wadena ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 21% of towns
- Household income$60,321 median, better than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wadena
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wadena home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,321, 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 Wadena's effective rate of 0.97%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wadena
Wadena's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Wadena.
Who works in Wadena, and how
Work in Wadena centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Wadena
Wadena has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wadena and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wadena, month by month
Wadena sees roughly 145 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 20, with lows near 3. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 11° | 3° |
| April | 51° | 39° | 30° |
| July | 79° | 68° | 58° |
| October | 55° | 44° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Wadena
The nearest airport, Brainerd Lakes Regional, is about 48 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 Wadena
Schools across Wadena average a B−, better than 56% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sebeka ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- New York Mills ElementaryC+ · 39% proficient
- Verndale ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wadena-deer Creek 5th And 6th GradeB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Wadena-deer Creek Senior HighB− · 42% proficient
- Sebeka SecondaryC+ · 40% proficient
- New York Mills SecondaryC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wadena school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wadena 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 Wadena against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wadena
Is Wadena a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wadena ranks 17,515th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, state infrastructure, and walkability, and lowest on noise 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 Wadena expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $172,223. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $60,321 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Wadena safe?
Yes, Wadena is safer than 63% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $286 per resident a year.
Compare Wadena with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wadena. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wadena 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.
Wadena detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wadena: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wadena: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wadena: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wadena: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wadena 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.