Best Places55123, MN Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 55123, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

55123 ranks 125th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.

#125
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 55123

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 55123 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

55123's strengths and weaknesses

#125Best US zip overall
Top 1%What local pay buys
Top 3%Few empty homes
Top 5%Heat safety
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 55123 with other zip codes.

Where 55123 ranks high

  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • Heat safetyBetter than 96% of zip codes
  • Health outlookBetter than 96% of zip codes
  • Household income$150,768 median, better than 96% of zip codes

Where 55123 ranks low

  • Cheap childcare$1,682 a month, better than only 3% of zip codes
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 22% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 28% of zip codes
  • Low property taxBetter than only 40% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 43% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 55123

A household needs to earn about $121,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 55123 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $150,768, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$121,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,827
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $454,319 home
Median rent
$1,669
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,316
Property tax$359
Homeowners insurance$151

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 55123's effective rate of 0.95%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 55123

55123's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
42
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
15%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1823%
18 to 3420%
35 to 4921%
50 to 6422%
65 and older14%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 55123.


Who works in 55123, and how

Work in 55123 centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
27%
above the national average
Unemployment
2.0%
below the national average
Job growth
+1.6%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical15%
Health care & social15%
Retail trade11%
Finance & insurance10%
Manufacturing10%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 70%
  • Work from home 27%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in 55123

55123 has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most zip codes and more parkland per resident than 95% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 55123 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
50
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 18.4 per 10,000 residents, more than 28% of zip codes
Coffee shops
6
about 2.2 per 10,000 residents, more than 48% of zip codes
Parkland
472 acres
about 17.4 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 95% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 55123, month by month

55123 sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January26°19°13°
April56°45°37°
July84°74°65°
October60°50°43°

Flying in and out of 55123

Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 6 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 17.5 million passengers in 2025, with 195 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
MSP
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 6 miles
Airport size
Large hub
17th-busiest in the US, 195 nonstop destinations
Average drive
9 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 55123

Schools across 55123 average a B+, better than 76% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 55123 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


55123 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 55123 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 55123 suits

Families

Schools beat 76% of zip codes and crime safety beats 92%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 100% of zip codes, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 27% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 56% of zip codes and health care access beats 95%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 55123

Is 55123 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 55123 ranks 125th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on what local pay buys, few empty homes, and heat safety, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 55123 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $454,319. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $150,768 median income, cost of living beats 100% of zip codes.

Is 55123 safe?

Yes, 55123 is safer than 92% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $188 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 55123?

July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 26 with lows near 13. That works out to about 90 pleasant days a year, more than 56% of zip codes.

Is 55123 good for families?

Schools beat 76% of zip codes, crime safety beats 92%, and childcare runs $1,682 a month.


Compare 55123 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 55123. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 55123 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.

55123 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 55123: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 55123: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 55123: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 55123: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

55123 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.