Best PlacesWaite Park, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Waite Park, 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.
Waite Park ranks 23,202nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Waite Park
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.
Waite Park's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waite Park ranks high
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute18.2 minutes each way, better than 93% of towns
Where Waite Park ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,847 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 13% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 21% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Waite Park
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waite Park home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $59,917; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Waite Park's effective rate of 1.09%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Waite Park
Waite Park's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Waite Park.
Who works in Waite Park, and how
Work in Waite Park centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Waite Park
Waite Park has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of towns and more parkland per resident than 93% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Waite Park and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Waite Park, month by month
Waite Park sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 23, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23° | 15° | 7° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 33° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 58° | 47° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Waite Park
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 67 miles away.
The best schools in and around Waite Park
Schools across Waite Park average a C−, better than 24% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kennedy Community SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Westwood ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Discovery Community ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Junior HighD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Apollo Senior HighC+ · 39% proficient
- St. Cloud Area Learning CenterD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waite Park school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waite Park 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 Waite Park against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Waite Park
Is Waite Park a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waite Park ranks 23,202nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and cell coverage, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Waite Park expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $232,781. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $59,917 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Waite Park safe?
Waite Park is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $434 per resident a year.
Compare Waite Park with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waite Park. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waite Park 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.
Waite Park detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waite Park: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waite Park: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waite Park: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waite Park: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waite Park 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.