Article Table Of Contents
Not everyone is cut out for city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Minneapolis.
So the question arises, do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?
Today, we'll use science and data to determine which Minneapolis 'burbs need a little tender loving care - the sore thumbs of the Minneapolis area if you will. Realistically, you can't expect all the suburbs to live up to Minneapolis proper, although North Oaks certainly tries.
Of course, not all suburbs of Minneapolis are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones..
We examined the 111 biggest suburbs of Minneapolis to find out the worst places to live. And while you won't necessarily find them on the worst places to live in minnesota lists, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Minneapolis in terms of quality of life.
Here are the 10 worst suburbs around Minneapolis for 2021:
What's the worst suburb of Minneapolis? Lexington ranks as the worst suburb of Minneapolis for 2021 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Minneapolis that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don't blame the messenger.
Or, if you're thinking of moving to elsewhere in minnesota check out the best places in minnesota overall or the worst.
And remember, there are some good places to live around Minneapolis too.
Editor's Note: If you see a slight difference between the worst in state rankings and this suburb ranking, it's because of the methodology. We needed a way to include more places, so we eliminated crime and commute times as criteria for this analysis.
For more Minnesota reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Minnesota
- Cheapest Places To Live In Minnesota
- Most Dangerous Cities In Minnesota
The 10 Worst Minneapolis Suburbs To Live For 2021
/10
We'll get the ball rolling with Lexington, the absolute worst place to live around Minneapolis according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, Lexington beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 5th worst in the Minneapolis area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 2nd worst when it comes to home values.
But hey, at least it's cheap to live there. But there's a reason for that... it's Lexington.
You won't feel bad about not having a great income for the area, there aren't a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.
/10
Population: 3,532
Rank Last Year: 22 (Up 20)
Median Income: $59,167 (10th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 4.2% (2highest)
Median Home Value: $216,300 (23rd lowest)
More on Newport: Data
Welcome to Newport. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 14.5 miles to Minneapolis. Income levels here are the 10th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $59,167 a year, which doesn't go a long ways even on a shoestring budget.
But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.
/10
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Minneapolis suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Brooklyn Center on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that's an understatement.
In terms of numbers, it's in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school drop out rate is poor compared to other Minneapolis suburbs.
But at least there are nice parks to bring the kids during the day.
/10
If you live in West St. Paul, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 3rd lowest Minneapolis suburb when it comes to residents making money.
Not only that, but this is the 2nd worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Minneapolis. Remember, we looked at 111 cities for this study.
West St. Paul is about 9.9 miles to downtown.
/10
Jordan has the distinction of being a Minneapolis suburb. Which means that's about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Jordan has the 32nd lowest home values in the metro Minneapolis area, where the median price is $235,900. To put that into perspective, in North Oaks, the median income is $178,816, which is the best in the area.
Jordan has an unemployment rate of 5.46% which ranks 5th worst.
/10
St. Paul has 304,547 residents that probably know it's a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you've ever been there, you don't need to look at the data.)
Incomes are towards the bottom and the poverty rate sits at 18.906326382684625%.
/10
Ah, Columbia Heights. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Minneapolis.
It's the place with the 4th most out of work residents in the Minneapolis metro area (5.67%).
/10
Population: 4,551
Rank Last Year: 14 (Up 6)
Median Income: $65,548 (18th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 3.5% (37th highest)
Median Home Value: $181,900 (4th lowest)
More on Rockford: Data
Rockford is a city about 24.9 miles from Minneapolis, but Minneapolis probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.
You'd be hard pressed to find a worse place to live. Rockford has the 4th most uninsured people, 18th worst incomes, and has the 37th highest unemployment rate (3.55%) in the entire Minneapolis metro area.
Homes only cost $181,900 for a reason. That's cheap for Minneapolis standards.
/10
If you absolutely have to live near Minneapolis, then Fridley might be a place for you to consider as it's only the 9th worst Minneapolis suburb.
About 4.1% of residents are out of work.
/10
Population: 10,451
Rank Last Year: 11 (Up 1)
Median Income: $52,842 (lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 3.9% (28th highest)
Median Home Value: $242,500 (36th lowest)
More on Little Canada: Data
Rounding out the ten worst Minneapolis suburbs to call home is Little Canada.
Located 9.9 miles outside the city, Little Canadas is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 28th highest unemployment rate (3.94%), and poverty is far above the area average.
Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Minneapolis for 2021
To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2015-2019, this is the criteria we used:
- High unemployment rate
- Low median household incomes
- Low population density (no things to do)
- Low home values
- A lot of high school drop outs
- High poverty
- High rate of uninsured families
FYI: We defined a suburb as being within 30 miles of Minneapolis.
Additionally, we limited the analysis to places that have over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 111 suburbs to evaluate around Minneapolis.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 111 in each category, where 1 was the "worst".
Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality of life index.
And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index the "Worst Suburb near Minneapolis." We're lookin' at you, Lexington. You can download the data here.
Read on below to learn more about what it's like to live in the worst of the worst. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the suburbs ranked from worst to best.
The areas around Minneapolis where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2021
Well there you have it -- the worst of the 'burbs surrounding Minneapolis with Lexington casting itself ahead of the pack.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Minneapolis aren't all bad. North Oaks takes the cake as the best place to live around Minneapolis.
- North Oaks
- Deephaven
- Medina
For more Minnesota reading, check out:
- Best Places To Retire In Minnesota
- Richest Cities In Minnesota
- Safest Places In Minnesota
- Worst Places To Live In Minnesota
Detailed List Of The Worst Minneapolis Suburbs
Rank | City | Population |
---|---|---|
1 | Lexington | 2,144 |
2 | Newport | 3,532 |
3 | Brooklyn Center | 30,849 |
4 | West St. Paul | 19,779 |
5 | Jordan | 6,230 |
6 | St. Paul | 304,547 |
7 | Columbia Heights | 20,118 |
8 | Rockford | 4,551 |
9 | Fridley | 27,668 |
10 | Little Canada | 10,451 |
11 | Maplewood | 40,545 |
12 | Anoka | 17,471 |
13 | South St. Paul | 20,194 |
14 | Mounds View | 13,094 |
15 | Spring Lake Park | 6,535 |
16 | New Hope | 20,925 |
17 | Brooklyn Park | 80,068 |
18 | Inver Grove Heights | 35,320 |
19 | North St. Paul | 12,406 |
20 | Richfield | 36,063 |
21 | Burnsville | 61,311 |
22 | St. Paul Park | 5,356 |
23 | Hopkins | 18,382 |
24 | Crystal | 22,975 |
25 | Coon Rapids | 62,517 |
26 | Bloomington | 85,332 |
27 | Oakdale | 27,963 |
28 | Elk River | 24,522 |
29 | New Brighton | 22,556 |
30 | Watertown | 4,408 |
31 | Blaine | 64,114 |
32 | Lauderdale | 2,514 |
33 | Robbinsdale | 14,468 |
34 | Forest Lake | 20,004 |
35 | Shakopee | 40,731 |
36 | Roseville | 36,026 |
37 | Osseo | 2,753 |
38 | St. Bonifacius | 2,078 |
39 | Prescott | 4,258 |
40 | White Bear Lake | 25,673 |
41 | Arden Hills | 10,293 |
42 | Dayton | 5,817 |
43 | Oak Park Heights | 4,889 |
44 | Hastings | 22,738 |
45 | Hudson | 13,795 |
46 | Wyoming | 7,914 |
47 | Chaska | 26,371 |
48 | Columbus | 4,055 |
49 | Vadnais Heights | 13,444 |
50 | Falcon Heights | 5,571 |
51 | East Bethel | 11,870 |
52 | Apple Valley | 52,889 |
53 | Bayport | 3,723 |
54 | Nowthen | 4,682 |
55 | Excelsior | 2,434 |
56 | Eagan | 66,379 |
57 | Lake Elmo | 8,969 |
58 | Ramsey | 26,638 |
59 | Circle Pines | 4,950 |
60 | Oak Grove | 8,682 |
61 | Savage | 31,254 |
62 | Corcoran | 5,911 |
63 | Wayzata | 4,561 |
64 | Champlin | 24,755 |
65 | Greenfield | 2,986 |
66 | Centerville | 3,985 |
67 | St. Anthony | 9,038 |
68 | Prior Lake | 26,365 |
69 | Otsego | 16,763 |
70 | Cottage Grove | 36,602 |
71 | St. Louis Park | 48,677 |
72 | Eden Prairie | 64,179 |
73 | Rosemount | 24,292 |
74 | Mahtomedi | 8,164 |
75 | Farmington | 22,869 |
76 | St. Michael | 17,586 |
77 | Afton | 2,999 |
78 | Golden Valley | 21,566 |
79 | Ham Lake | 16,434 |
80 | Lakeville | 63,915 |
81 | Shoreview | 26,791 |
82 | Albertville | 7,436 |
83 | Hanover | 3,298 |
84 | Mound | 9,480 |
85 | Hugo | 14,767 |
86 | Minnetonka | 53,025 |
87 | Andover | 32,733 |
88 | Grant | 4,100 |
89 | Stillwater | 19,341 |
90 | Elko New Market | 4,657 |
91 | Woodbury | 69,906 |
92 | Delano | 6,085 |
93 | Carver | 4,771 |
94 | North Hudson | 3,796 |
95 | Orono | 8,113 |
96 | Independence | 3,776 |
97 | Maple Grove | 70,627 |
98 | Plymouth | 78,134 |
99 | Shorewood | 7,867 |
100 | Rogers | 12,971 |
West St. Paul is far worse than #13! Have you been on Robert Street lately? It is so ghetto and blighted. But taxes are going way way up to pay to “fix” it because it’s a state road but the state won’t pay for it. West St Paul is far worse than South St Paul, Newport, Inver Grove Heights all surrounding it. At least they have the river or some okay areas, West St Paul is just a filthy crime ridden ghetto and oh yeah, the city bans its citizens from renting their “own” homes, it’s that bad!! So if you buy a home there, you are stuck living in that horrible place. West St Paul is where dreams go to die. Avoid it like the plague!!
robert street is pretty ok tbh
No it isn’t! Even after the city ran up a 45 million dollar tab for Robwrt Street, a state owned road, it is to be paid for predominantly by taxpayers, not by the state!? Robert Street and West St Paul are trashy, blighted, ugly, awful places to be. Unless crime, urban blight, empty parking lots and deserted out of businesz big box stores is your thing?
Do you understand the difference between Minneapolis and Saint Paul? Half of your ten worst Minneapolis Suburbs list are suburbs of Saint Paul.
St.paul is not a suberb of Minneapolis