Best PlacesFridley, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fridley, 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.
Fridley ranks 1,019th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Fridley
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.
Fridley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fridley ranks high
- BikingBetter than 96% of cities
- TransitBetter than 91% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 87% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 80% of cities
Where Fridley ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 4% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,682 a month, better than only 8% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 28% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 29% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Fridley
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fridley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,654, 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 Fridley's effective rate of 1.07%, 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 Fridley
Fridley runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fridley.
Who works in Fridley, and how
Work in Fridley centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Fridley
Fridley has more parkland per resident than 98% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Fridley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fridley, month by month
Fridley sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 19° | 12° |
| April | 56° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 84° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 60° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Fridley
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 14 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 17.5 million passengers in 2025, with 195 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Fridley
Schools across Fridley average a C, better than 31% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Elementary LighthouseA+ · 85% proficient
- Champlin/brooklyn Pk Acd MathenvsciB+ · 53% proficient
- Woodcrest El. Spanish ImmersionB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jackson MiddleB− · 42% proficient
- Westwood Intermediate & Middle SchB− · 41% proficient
- Coon Rapids Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Secondary LighthouseA+ · 80% proficient
- Champlin Park High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Coon Rapids High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fridley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fridley 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 Fridley against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Fridley suits
Common questions about living in Fridley
Is Fridley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fridley ranks 1,019th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, transit, and state infrastructure, and lowest on a weak job market and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fridley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $298,295. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $81,654 median income, cost of living beats 53% of cities.
Is Fridley safe?
Fridley is safer than 29% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $398 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fridley?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 26 with lows near 12. That works out to about 123 pleasant days a year, more than 71% of cities.
Is Fridley good for families?
Schools beat 31% of cities, crime safety beats 29%, and childcare runs $1,682 a month.
Compare Fridley with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fridley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fridley 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.
Fridley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fridley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fridley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fridley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fridley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fridley 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.