Best PlacesMinnetonka, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Minnetonka, 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.
Minnetonka ranks 106th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Minnetonka
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.
Minnetonka's strengths and weaknesses
Where Minnetonka ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of cities
- School gradeA, better than 90% of cities
Where Minnetonka ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,682 a month, better than only 8% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 8% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 28% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 28% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 34% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Minnetonka
A household needs to earn about $132,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Minnetonka home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $135,736, 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 Minnetonka's effective rate of 1.08%, 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 Minnetonka
Minnetonka 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 Minnetonka.
Who works in Minnetonka, and how
Work in Minnetonka centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Minnetonka
Minnetonka has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Minnetonka and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Minnetonka, month by month
Minnetonka sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 18° | 11° |
| April | 57° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Minnetonka
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 12 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 Minnetonka
Schools across Minnetonka average an A, better than 90% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Scenic Heights ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Gleason Lake ElementaryA+ · 76% proficient
- Eagle Ridge Academy Lower SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wayzata East MiddleA+ · 75% proficient
- Wayzata Central MiddleA+ · 73% proficient
- Wayzata West MiddleA+ · 70% proficient
Top high schools
- Wayzata HighA · 79% proficient
- Minnetonka Senior HighA · 69% proficient
- Eagle Ridge Academy Charter SchoolA− · 66% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Minnetonka school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Minnetonka 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 Minnetonka against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Minnetonka suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 28% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 73% of cities and health care access beats 94%.
Common questions about living in Minnetonka
Is Minnetonka a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Minnetonka ranks 106th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on civic engagement, what local pay buys, and health care access, 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 Minnetonka expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $484,662. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $135,736 median income, cost of living beats 96% of cities.
Is Minnetonka safe?
Minnetonka is safer than 40% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $352 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Minnetonka?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 26 with lows near 11. That works out to about 128 pleasant days a year, more than 73% of cities.
Is Minnetonka good for families?
Schools beat 90% of cities, crime safety beats 40%, and childcare runs $1,682 a month.
Compare Minnetonka with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Minnetonka. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Minnetonka 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.
Minnetonka detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Minnetonka: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Minnetonka: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Minnetonka: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Minnetonka: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Minnetonka 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.