Best PlacesWest St. Paul, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around West St. Paul, 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.
West St. Paul ranks 6,009th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in West 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.
West St. Paul's strengths and weaknesses
Where West St. Paul ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
Where West St. Paul ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,682 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 30% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in West St. Paul
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median West St. Paul home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $79,302; 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 West St. Paul's effective rate of 1.00%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in West St. Paul
West St. Paul'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 West St. Paul.
Who works in West St. Paul, and how
Work in West St. Paul centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in West St. Paul
West St. Paul has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of West St. Paul and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in West St. Paul, month by month
West St. Paul sees roughly 124 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 West St. Paul
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 7 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 West St. Paul
Schools across West St. Paul average a B, better than 65% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Somerset ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Garlough Environmental MagnetB− · 43% proficient
- Lincoln Center ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Friendly Hills MiddleB · 43% proficient
- Heritage E-stem Magnet SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Two Rivers High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Bluesky Charter SchoolC · 34% proficient
- West Heights AlcD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every West St. Paul school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
West 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 West St. Paul against the other 50,332 towns.
Who West St. Paul suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 20% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 82% of towns and health care access beats 64%.
Common questions about living in West St. Paul
Is West St. Paul a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, West St. Paul ranks 6,009th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and walkability, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is West St. Paul expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $297,396. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $79,302 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is West St. Paul safe?
West St. Paul is safer than 31% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $395 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in West St. Paul?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 26 with lows near 12. That works out to about 124 pleasant days a year, more than 82% of towns.
Is West St. Paul good for families?
Schools beat 65% of towns, crime safety beats 31%, and childcare runs $1,682 a month.
Compare West St. Paul with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to West St. Paul. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in West 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.
West St. Paul detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for West St. Paul: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in West St. Paul: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of West St. Paul: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in West St. Paul: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
West 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.