Best PlacesSt. Cloud, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Cloud, 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.
St. Cloud ranks 8,055th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in 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.
St. Cloud's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Cloud ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- Household income$95,113 median, better than 81% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 81% of towns
Where St. Cloud ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 18% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,055 a month, better than only 21% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 30% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. Cloud
A household needs to earn about $71,000 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 $95,113, 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 1.19%, 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 St. Cloud
St. Cloud 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 St. Cloud.
Who works in St. Cloud, and how
Work in St. Cloud centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in St. Cloud
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across St. Cloud.
What the weather is like in St. Cloud, month by month
St. Cloud sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 15° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 62° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of St. Cloud
The nearest airport, Appleton International, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 60 miles away.
The best schools in and around St. Cloud
Schools across St. Cloud average a B−, better than 53% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Elkhart Lake Elementary/middleA− · 60% proficient
- Horizon ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Eden ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- New Holstein MiddleB · 46% proficient
- Campbellsport MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Riverview MiddleB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Elkhart Lake HighB · 50% proficient
- Campbellsport HighC · 32% proficient
- Plymouth HighC− · 28% 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 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. Cloud
Is St. Cloud a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Cloud ranks 8,055th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, health care access, and low disaster risk, and lowest on internet speeds and property 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 $258,678. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $95,113 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is St. Cloud safe?
Yes, St. Cloud is safer than 77% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $240 per resident a year.
Compare St. Cloud with other towns
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.
- 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.