Best PlacesGolden Valley, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Golden Valley, 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.
Golden Valley ranks 2,464th 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 Golden Valley
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.
Golden Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Golden Valley ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
Where Golden Valley ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,682 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Golden Valley
A household needs to earn about $122,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Golden Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $118,067; 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 Golden Valley's effective rate of 1.20%, 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 Golden Valley
Golden Valley 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 Golden Valley.
Who works in Golden Valley, and how
Work in Golden Valley centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Golden Valley
Golden Valley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Golden Valley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Golden Valley, month by month
Golden Valley sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 18° | 11° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Golden Valley
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 10 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 Golden Valley
Schools across Golden Valley average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Xinxing AcademyA · 70% proficient
- Meadowbrook ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
- Park Spanish Immersion ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hopkins North Junior HighB+ · 49% proficient
- St. Louis Park Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Sandburg Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Hopkins Senior HighB+ · 55% proficient
- St. Louis Park Senior HighB · 47% proficient
- Robbinsdale Armstrong Senior HighB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Golden Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Golden Valley 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 Golden Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Golden Valley suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 28% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 82% of towns and health care access beats 87%.
Common questions about living in Golden Valley
Is Golden Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Golden Valley ranks 2,464th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, transit, and population health, 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 Golden Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $442,610. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $118,067 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Golden Valley safe?
Golden Valley is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $479 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Golden Valley?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 25 with lows near 11. That works out to about 123 pleasant days a year, more than 82% of towns.
Is Golden Valley good for families?
Schools beat 57% of towns, crime safety beats 18%, and childcare runs $1,682 a month.
Compare Golden Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Golden Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Golden Valley 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.
Golden Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Golden Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Golden Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Golden Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Golden Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Golden Valley 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.