Best PlacesSt. Cloud, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the St. Cloud metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by McGhiever, CC BY-SA 4.0, via wiki
St. Cloud ranks 122nd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on childcare costs and taxes. It does better on heat safety, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the St. Cloud 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 St. Cloud
The towns and districts of the St. Cloud 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.
Sartell
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more households have young kids.
Cold Spring, Waite Park & Rockville
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Paynesville & Richmond
Crime runs lower, though more homes sit empty.
St. Joseph
Scores close to Paynesville & Richmond, except that more adults hold degrees here.
Sauk Centre, Melrose & Albany
Schools score higher, though prices have run up more.
St. Augusta
Health care is harder to reach.
Foley & Rice
More residents vote, though streets are more car-dependent.
Downtown St. Cloud
Homes cost less.
St. Cloud shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
St. Cloud's strengths and weaknesses
St. Cloud lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Heat safety, state infrastructure, and civic engagement carry most of that.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. Taxes and internet speeds also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of St. Cloud to another than it does between St. Cloud and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where St. Cloud ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than 78% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than 77% of metro areas
Where St. Cloud ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,688 a month, better than only 2% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 19% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than only 22% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than only 26% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than only 27% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in St. Cloud
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Cloud home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,888, 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 St. Cloud's effective rate of 0.94%, 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 St. Cloud
St. Cloud runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for St. Cloud.
Who works in St. Cloud, and how
Work in St. Cloud centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in St. Cloud
St. Cloud has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less late-night activity than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of St. Cloud and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is St. Cloud growing, and who is moving in?
St. Cloud has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Minneapolis, MN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving St. Cloud go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in St. Cloud, month by month
St. Cloud sees roughly 122 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 St. Cloud
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 6 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 St. Cloud
Schools across St. Cloud average a B−, better than 56% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Albany ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Foley ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Mississippi Heights ElementaryB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sartell MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- Albany Area Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Becker MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Sartell Senior HighA− · 63% proficient
- Albany Area High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Sauk Rapids-rice Senior HighB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Cloud school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
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 St. Cloud against the other 386 metro areas.
Who St. Cloud suits
Retirees
The weather beats 74% of metro areas and health care access beats 78%.
Common questions about living in St. Cloud
Is St. Cloud a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Cloud ranks 122nd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on heat safety, state infrastructure, and civic engagement, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is St. Cloud expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $280,424. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $81,888 median income, cost of living beats 57% of metro areas.
Is St. Cloud safe?
Yes, St. Cloud is safer than 77% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $289 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in St. Cloud?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 23 with lows near 7. That works out to about 122 pleasant days a year, more than 74% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in St. Cloud?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Sartell, Cold Spring, Waite Park & Rockville, and Paynesville & Richmond. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is St. Cloud good for families?
Schools beat 56% of metro areas, crime safety beats 77%, and childcare runs $1,688 a month.
Is St. Cloud good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 57% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 22% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare St. Cloud with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Cloud. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 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.
St. Cloud detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Cloud: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Cloud: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Cloud: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Cloud: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
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.
- 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.