Best PlacesMinneapolis, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Minneapolis metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by AlexiusHoratius, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Minneapolis ranks 15th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $109,622, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, noise, and taxes.
The best neighborhoods in the Minneapolis metro
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.
The best areas in Minneapolis
The towns and districts of the Minneapolis metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Eden Prairie, Shakopee & Prior Lake
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and crime runs lower.
Plymouth, Minnetonka & New Hope
Schools score higher and more adults hold degrees.
Bloomington, Burnsville & Lakeville
Biking is better.
Woodbury, Cottage Grove & Inver Grove Heights
Streets are more car-dependent and transit reaches fewer jobs.
Lino Lakes, Forest Lake & Hugo
It is quieter and more residents vote.
Maple Grove, Elk River & Ramsey
More households have young kids, though commutes are longer.
Brooklyn Park, Coon Rapids & Blaine
Scores close to Maple Grove, Elk River & Ramsey, except that health care is harder to reach here.
St. Paul
Scores close to Brooklyn Park, Coon Rapids & Blaine, except that prices have run up more here.
Downtown Minneapolis
Tree cover is thinner and more homes sit empty.
Minneapolis shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Minneapolis' strengths and weaknesses
Minneapolis ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. What local pay buys is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Few empty homes and civic engagement follow.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. Noise and taxes also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Minneapolis ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of metro areas
- Household income$109,622 median, better than 94% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 94% of metro areas
Where Minneapolis ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,587 a month, better than only 4% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than only 5% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 21% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than only 32% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 36% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Minneapolis
A household needs to earn about $107,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Minneapolis home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $109,622, 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 Minneapolis' effective rate of 1.05%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Minneapolis
Minneapolis's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Minneapolis.
Who works in Minneapolis, and how
Work in Minneapolis centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Minneapolis
Minneapolis has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and more parkland per resident than 96% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Minneapolis and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Minneapolis growing, and who is moving in?
Minneapolis has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chicago, IL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Minneapolis go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Minneapolis, month by month
Minneapolis sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 27, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27° | 18° | 10° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 35° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Minneapolis
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.
The best schools in and around Minneapolis
Schools across Minneapolis average a B−, better than 66% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Atheneum ElementaryA+ · 93% proficient
- Gate 4/5A+ · 88% proficient
- St. Croix Preparatory Academy LowerA+ · 85% proficient
Top middle schools
- St. Croix Prep Academy MiddleA+ · 76% proficient
- Wayzata East MiddleA+ · 75% proficient
- Wayzata Central MiddleA+ · 73% proficient
Top high schools
- Secondary LighthouseA+ · 80% proficient
- Wayzata HighA · 79% proficient
- St. Croix Preparatory Academy UpperA · 77% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Minneapolis school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Minneapolis 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 Minneapolis against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Minneapolis suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 99% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 21% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 71% of metro areas and health care access beats 82%.
Common questions about living in Minneapolis
Is Minneapolis a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Minneapolis ranks 15th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on what local pay buys, few empty homes, and civic engagement, 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 Minneapolis expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $395,330. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $109,622 median income, cost of living beats 99% of metro areas.
Is Minneapolis safe?
Minneapolis is safer than 54% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $350 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Minneapolis?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 27 with lows near 10. That works out to about 116 pleasant days a year, more than 71% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Minneapolis?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Eden Prairie, Shakopee & Prior Lake, Plymouth, Minnetonka & New Hope, and Bloomington, Burnsville & Lakeville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Minneapolis good for families?
Schools beat 66% of metro areas, crime safety beats 54%, and childcare runs $1,587 a month.
Is Minneapolis good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 99% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 75% of metro areas. About 21% of workers already work from home.
Compare Minneapolis with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Minneapolis. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Minneapolis 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.
Minneapolis detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Minneapolis: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Minneapolis: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Minneapolis: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Minneapolis: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Minneapolis 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.