Best PlacesNorth St. Paul, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around North St. Paul, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
North St. Paul ranks 5,093rd 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 North St. Paul
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.
North St. Paul's strengths and weaknesses
Where North St. Paul ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
Where North St. Paul ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,682 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in North St. Paul
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median North St. Paul home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,803, 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 North St. Paul's effective rate of 1.21%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in North St. Paul
North St. Paul runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for North St. Paul.
Who works in North St. Paul, and how
Work in North St. Paul centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in North St. Paul
North St. Paul has more parkland per resident than 88% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of North St. Paul and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in North St. Paul, month by month
North St. Paul sees roughly 129 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 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 | 57° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of North St. Paul
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 North St. Paul
Schools across North St. Paul average a C, better than 33% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cowern ElementaryC · 33% proficient
- Richardson ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- North Metro Flex AcademyD− · 14% proficient
Top middle schools
- John Glenn MiddleD · 22% proficient
- North Metro Flex Middle SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- North Senior HighB · 46% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every North St. Paul school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
North St. Paul 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 North St. Paul against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in North St. Paul
Is North St. Paul a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, North St. Paul ranks 5,093rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, transit, and walkability, 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 North St. Paul expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $305,849. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $89,803 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is North St. Paul safe?
North St. Paul is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $369 per resident a year.
Compare North St. Paul with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to North St. Paul. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in North St. Paul 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.
North St. Paul detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for North St. Paul: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in North St. Paul: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of North St. Paul: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in North St. Paul: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
North St. Paul 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.