Best PlacesWinsted, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Winsted, 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.
Winsted ranks 7,223rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Winsted
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.
Winsted's strengths and weaknesses
Where Winsted ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of towns
- BikingBetter than 87% of towns
Where Winsted ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$966 a month, better than only 27% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 28% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 36% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Winsted
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Winsted home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,569, 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 Winsted's effective rate of 1.05%, 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 Winsted
Winsted 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 Winsted.
Who works in Winsted, and how
Work in Winsted centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Winsted
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Winsted.
What the weather is like in Winsted, month by month
Winsted sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 55° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Winsted
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 41 miles away.
The best schools in and around Winsted
Schools across Winsted average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cokato ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Humphrey ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Watertown-mayer Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dassel-cokato MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Howard Lake-waverly-winsted MiddleB · 46% proficient
- Watertown-mayer MiddleB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Watertown Mayer HighA− · 67% proficient
- Dassel-cokato Senior HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Glencoe-silver Lake Senior HighB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Winsted school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Winsted 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 Winsted against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Winsted
Is Winsted a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Winsted ranks 7,223rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, state infrastructure, and walkability, 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 Winsted expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $246,937. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $78,569 median income, cost of living beats 61% of towns.
Is Winsted safe?
Yes, Winsted is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $155 per resident a year.
Compare Winsted with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Winsted. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Winsted 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.
Winsted detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Winsted: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Winsted: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Winsted: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Winsted: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Winsted 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.