Best PlacesSt. Francis, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Francis, 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.
St. Francis ranks 3,500th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in St. Francis
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. Francis' strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Francis ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
Where St. Francis ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,648 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Short commute32.1 minutes each way, better than only 24% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 30% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. Francis
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Francis home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $102,611, 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. Francis' effective rate of 0.82%, 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. Francis
St. Francis runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for St. Francis.
Who works in St. Francis, and how
Work in St. Francis centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in St. Francis
St. Francis has more parkland per resident than 95% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of St. Francis and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in St. Francis, month by month
St. Francis sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 55° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 41° |
Flying in and out of St. Francis
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 36 miles away.
The best schools in and around St. Francis
Schools across St. Francis average a B−, better than 63% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- St. Francis ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Westwood ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
- East Bethel Elementary SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top middle schools
- Zimmerman MiddleB · 47% proficient
- St. Francis MiddleC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Zimmerman High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- St. Francis HighB · 48% proficient
- Saints Online High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Francis school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Francis 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. Francis against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. Francis
Is St. Francis a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Francis ranks 3,500th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, low crime, and heat safety, 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. Francis expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $314,451. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $102,611 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is St. Francis safe?
Yes, St. Francis is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $156 per resident a year.
Compare St. Francis with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Francis. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Francis 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. Francis detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Francis: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Francis: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Francis: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Francis: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Francis 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.