Minneapolis, MN
Minnesota Cost Of Living: Most And Least Expensive Places Ranked
MINNESOTA — The cost of living varies widely across Minnesota, with new data from Niche highlighting a sharp divide between Twin Cities neighborhoods and smaller communities across the state.
The Niche rankings are based on a mix of housing costs, income levels, taxes, and everyday expenses like groceries and gas, using data from the U.S. Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Tax Foundation.
Many of the highest-cost areas are concentrated in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and nearby suburbs, while the most affordable places are largely found in rural and small-town Minnesota.
15 Most Expensive Places To Live In Minnesota
Niche places several Twin Cities neighborhoods and suburbs in its second-highest cost-of-living tier. No Minnesota locations ranked in the highest tier.
Among them:
- Macalester-Groveland (St. Paul)
- King Field (Minneapolis)
- St. Anthony Park (St. Paul)
- Downtown East (Minneapolis)
- East Harriet (Minneapolis)
- Summit Hill (St. Paul)
- Bryn Mawr (Minneapolis)
- North Loop (Minneapolis)
- King Field (Minneapolis)
- Edina
- Linden Hills (Minneapolis)
- Fulton (Minneapolis)
- Lowry Hill (Minneapolis)
- East Isles (Minneapolis)
- Lynnhurst (Minneapolis)
15 Most Affordable Places To Live In Minnesota
At the other end of the spectrum, Niche identified a number of towns with significantly lower costs of living.
These communities are spread across southern, western, and northern Minnesota and tend to have smaller populations and lower housing costs.
Among the most affordable places:
- Luverne
- International Falls
- Pipestone
- Caledonia
- Jackson
- Windom
- Redwood Falls
- Ely
- Breckenridge
- Blue Earth
- Lake Crystal
- Austin
- Sleepy Eye
- Mountain Iron
- Thief River Falls
The data underscores a familiar pattern in Minnesota: higher costs in the metro area and more affordable living in smaller towns, often with trade-offs in access to jobs, amenities, and services.
Minneapolis, MN
North Minneapolis shooting injures 2 near Logan Avenue
A shooting in north Minneapolis injured two men on Friday night.
Minneapolis police said officers responded around 9:30 p.m. Friday after multiple reports of gunfire near Lowry Avenue North and North Logan Avenue.Police said they found two men with gunshot wounds outside a home.
Officers said both men were outside when the gunfire started and a nearby hospital treated both men for non-life-threatening injuries.
Police are still investigating. Officers said no arrests have been made.
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
Minneapolis, MN
Man, 19, hospitalized after shooting in north Minneapolis; no arrests
A 19-year-old man is injured after a shooting in north Minneapolis on Friday, according to police.
Officers responded to the incident on the 2600 block of North Humboldt Avenue at 5:03 p.m. Officials said they found the man inside a home with apparent gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening.
The officers provided medical aid before the man was taken to the hospital, police said.
According to investigators, the man was outside the home when shots were fired and ran inside after he was injured.
Police said Friday night that no arrests had been made and that they were working to learn what led to the shooting.
Minneapolis, MN
Affordable senior housing revived at 600 Main St. SE
The Blueprint
A team led by Lupe Development Partners and Wall Cos. wants to bring more than 100 units of affordable senior housing to a triangular parking area near the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, the latest version of a yearslong effort to redevelop the site.
On Thursday, the Minneapolis Planning Commission Committee of the Whole reviewed plans for the five-story, 104-unit building at 600 Main St. SE. The project would require a comprehensive plan amendment, rezoning and other approvals.
Jess Olstad, a city spokesperson, said in an email that the committee took no formal action.
“The next step for the project team will be to conduct public engagement around their potential comprehensive plan amendment, and to prepare their land use applications for submittal,” Olstad said.
Steve Minn, vice president and chief financial manager of Lupe Development, said Friday that the project received “very positive feedback” from the committee.
“We’re just going to proceed with the rest of our application, which will be in the next week or so,” said Minn, who added that the proposed location is a “perfect site for housing” and that “senior housing is a need.”
A comprehensive plan amendment would require Metropolitan Council review. If the approval process goes well and financing comes together next year, the project could break ground in 2028, Minn said.
A 58-space “principal parking facility” currently occupies the 37,401-square-foot development site, which is framed by Sixth Avenue Southeast, Main Street Southeast, and a railroad property, according to a city staff report.
The project would primarily offer one-bedroom units, though the mix would also include some two-bedroom dwellings and efficiencies. Thirty-nine stalls of underground parking are also planned.
Located near the Stone Arch Bridge trailhead in the Mississippi River Critical Area Overlay District, the project would be “compatible with the surrounding neighborhood architecture,” according to a narrative submitted on behalf of the developer.
The plan includes site improvements such as structured parking and pedestrian spaces, and a new public trail, which would connect to existing Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board trails in Father Hennepin Bluffs Park.
According to the developer’s narrative, the project “represents a reinvestment in a privately owned, undeveloped parcel that is not used for park purposes and is not planned for acquisition.”
The project would align the property’s “land use, built form, and Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area Overlay District designations with the surrounding urban context and applicable regulatory framework,” the narrative states.
Wall Cos. and Lupe Development Partners, doing business as Bluff Street Development, have long wanted to redevelop 600 Main St. SE. In 2023, the developers pitched a plan for 80 affordable housing units on the site.
The developers’ history with the site goes back as far as 2009, when they proposed separate plans for a 98-unit and a 79-unit apartment project, as previously reported. In 2010, Bluff Street sued the city after the City Council rejected the plans. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2011.
When development efforts first started, the Mississippi River Critical Corridor Area rules and regulations had not been defined, and “there was a lot of angst in the community” about what those regulations would be, Minn said.
Those regulations are now “well defined,” clearing the way for development, he said.
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