Best PlacesSt. Paul, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Paul, 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.
St. Paul ranks 148th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on noise and childcare costs. It does better on biking, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in 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.
The best areas in St. Paul
The parts of St. Paul, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Highland & Macalester-Groveland
More adults hold degrees, health care is easier to reach, and more residents vote.
Como & Saint Anthony
Local pay stretches further, though fewer households have young kids.
West 7th, West Side & Summit Hill
Incomes run higher and schools score higher.
Merrlam Park & Midway
Prices have run up more and tree cover is thinner.
Greater Eastside & Payne Phallen
It is quieter.
Thomas-Dale, Summit-University & Downtown Minneapolis
Streets are more walkable, though more homes sit empty.
Dayton's Bluff & Battle Creek
Scores close to Thomas-Dale, Summit-University & Downtown Minneapolis, except that crime runs lower here.
North End
Homes cost less.
St. Paul shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
St. Paul's strengths and weaknesses
St. Paul lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Biking, transit, and walkability carry most of that.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. Childcare costs and the schools also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where St. Paul ranks high
- BikingBetter than 94% of cities
- TransitBetter than 94% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 87% of cities
Where St. Paul ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,682 a month, better than only 8% of cities
- School gradeC−, better than only 14% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 18% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in St. Paul
A household needs to earn about $89,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Paul home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $82,681; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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. Paul'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, 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. Paul
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 St. Paul.
Who works in St. Paul, and how
Work in St. Paul centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in St. Paul
St. Paul has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 96% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of St. Paul and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in St. Paul, month by month
St. Paul sees roughly 123 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 St. Paul
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 8 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 St. Paul
Schools across St. Paul average a C−, better than 14% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Jie Ming Mandarin Immersion AcademyA · 70% proficient
- Nova Classical Academy Lower SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Otter Lake ElementaryA · 64% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central MiddleB · 47% proficient
- Sunrise Park MiddleB− · 41% proficient
- Heritage E-stem Magnet SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Nova Classical Academy Upper SchoolA · 77% proficient
- Minnesota Online High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Upper Mississippi High AcademyA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Paul school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
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 St. Paul against the other 444 cities.
Who St. Paul suits
Common questions about living in St. Paul
Is St. Paul a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Paul ranks 148th of 445 cities. It scores highest on biking, transit, and walkability, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is St. Paul expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $322,142. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $82,681 median income, cost of living beats 66% of cities.
Is St. Paul safe?
St. Paul is safer than 18% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $524 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in St. Paul?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 26 with lows near 12. That works out to about 123 pleasant days a year, more than 60% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in St. Paul?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Highland & Macalester-Groveland, Como & Saint Anthony, and West 7th, West Side & Summit Hill. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is St. Paul good for families?
Schools beat 14% of cities, crime safety beats 18%, and childcare runs $1,682 a month.
Is St. Paul good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 66% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 53% of cities. About 19% of workers already work from home.
Compare St. Paul with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Paul. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 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.
St. Paul detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Paul: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Paul: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Paul: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Paul: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
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.