Best PlacesYellow Medicine County, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Yellow Medicine County, 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.
Yellow Medicine County ranks 927th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Yellow Medicine 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.
Yellow Medicine County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Yellow Medicine County ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 91% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 87% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 82% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 82% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 123 pleasant days a year, better than 77% of counties
Where Yellow Medicine County ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 23% of counties
- Cheap childcare$911 a month, better than only 27% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 28% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Yellow Medicine County
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Yellow Medicine County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,846, 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 Yellow Medicine County's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Yellow Medicine County
Yellow Medicine 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 Yellow Medicine County.
Who works in Yellow Medicine County, and how
Work in Yellow Medicine County centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Yellow Medicine County
Yellow Medicine County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Yellow Medicine County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Yellow Medicine County growing, and who is moving in?
Yellow Medicine County has lost about 6% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chippewa County, MN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Yellow Medicine County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Yellow Medicine County, month by month
Yellow Medicine County sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 17° | 9° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 61° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Yellow Medicine County
The nearest airport, Watertown Regional, is about 66 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 128 miles away.
The best schools in and around Yellow Medicine County
Schools across Yellow Medicine County average a C+, better than 53% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Canby ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Minneota ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Lakeview ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Montevideo MiddleB+ · 47% proficient
- Redwood Valley MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
- Yellow Medicine East Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Minneota SecondaryA− · 62% proficient
- Redwood Valley Senior HighB · 48% proficient
- Montevideo Senior HighB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Yellow Medicine County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Yellow Medicine 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 Yellow Medicine County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Yellow Medicine County
Is Yellow Medicine County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Yellow Medicine County ranks 927th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state infrastructure, what local pay buys, and a stable housing market, and lowest on taxes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Yellow Medicine County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $162,148. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $79,846 median income, cost of living beats 87% of counties.
Is Yellow Medicine County safe?
Yellow Medicine County is safer than 47% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $344 per resident a year.
Compare Yellow Medicine County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Yellow Medicine County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Yellow Medicine 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.
Yellow Medicine County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Yellow Medicine County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Yellow Medicine County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Yellow Medicine County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Yellow Medicine County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Yellow Medicine 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.