Best PlacesNorthside Hester Park, St. Cloud, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud, 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.
Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud ranks 4,224th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on state infrastructure, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud
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.
Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud's strengths and weaknesses
Where Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of neighborhoods
- Short commute19.7 minutes each way, better than 81% of neighborhoods
- Heat safetyBetter than 78% of neighborhoods
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 72% of neighborhoods
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 69% of neighborhoods
Where Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,763 a month, better than only 12% of neighborhoods
- TransitBetter than only 12% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than only 13% of neighborhoods
- Internet speedBetter than only 14% of neighborhoods
- Household income$51,143 median, better than only 17% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $51,143, 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 Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud's effective rate of 0.88%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud
Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud.
Who works in Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud, and how
Work in Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud centers on education 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 83%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud
Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of neighborhoods. That concentrates in some parts of Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud, month by month
Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 23, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23° | 15° | 7° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 33° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 58° | 47° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 66 miles away.
The best schools in and around Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud
Schools across Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud average a C−, better than 29% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Madison ElementaryC− · 26% proficient
- Lincoln ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sartell MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- South Junior HighC− · 30% proficient
- North Junior HighD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Sartell Senior HighA− · 63% proficient
- Apollo Senior HighC+ · 39% proficient
- Technical Senior HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud 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 Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud
Is Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud ranks 4,224th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on state infrastructure, short commutes, and heat safety, and lowest on childcare costs and transit. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $186,064. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $51,143 median income, cost of living beats 26% of neighborhoods.
Is Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud safe?
Yes, Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud is safer than 60% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $466 per resident a year.
Compare Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud 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.
Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Northside Hester Park, St. Cloud 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.