The 10 Worst St. Paul Suburbs

The 10 Worst St. Paul Suburbs To Live For 2024

We’ll get the ball rolling with Lexington, the absolute worst place to live around St. Paul 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 15th worst in the St. Paul area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 12th 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.

Welcome to Brooklyn Center. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 13.2 miles to St. Paul. Income levels here are the 8th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $70,692 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

Back up the highway we go for the third worst St. Paul suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Columbia Heights 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 dropout rate is poor compared to other St. Paul suburbs.

But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.

If you live in Fridley, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 17th lowest St. Paul suburb for median household incomes.

Not only that, but this is the 5th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near St. Paul. Remember, we looked at 99 cities for this study.

Fridley is about 12.1 miles to downtown.

Newport has the distinction of being a St. Paul suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Newport has the 22nd lowest home values in the metro St. Paul area, where the median price is $320,702. The median income is $235,714.

Newport has an unemployment rate of 3.63% which ranks 47th worst.

Little Canada has 10,624 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 10.66339530055676%.

Ah, West St. Paul. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around St. Paul.

It’s the place with the 18th most out of work residents in the St. Paul metro area (4.95%).

New Hope is a city about 15.1 miles from St. Paul, but St. Paul 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. New Hope has the 11th most uninsured people, 4th worst incomes, and has the 15th highest unemployment rate (5.11%) in the entire St. Paul metro area.

Homes only cost $328,822 for a reason. That’s cheap for St. Paul standards.

If you absolutely have to live near St. Paul, then Minneapolis might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst St. Paul suburb.

About 5.78% of residents are out of work.

Rounding out the ten worst St. Paul suburbs to call home is South St. Paul.

Located 5.2 miles outside the city, South St. Pauls is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 9th highest unemployment rate (5.73%), and poverty is far above the area average.