Metro Life Score

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI

Compiled byPlainCompare Editorial, PlainCompare Editorial Team · Updated May 16, 2026

48.0
Life Score / 100: C+
Grade (curved): #220
of 387 metros: 43%
of metros outranked

Data updated May 2026

Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census

The verdict

Minneapolis ranks #220 of 387 US metros, ahead of 43% - carried by its wages (94/100) and held back most by cost of living (8/100).

94
strongest: Wages: 66
then: Safety: 8
weakest: Cost of Living: 7
weighted dimensions

Where Minneapolis sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

48 43th percentile higher than 43% of 387 US metros

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source PlainCompare composite of BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA data · May 2026

How the score is built

Reading the Minneapolis Life Score

Minneapolis's composite score of 48.0 out of 100, a grade of C+, places the metro at rank #220 of 387, ahead of 43% of US metros. The strongest inputs are Wages (94/100) and Safety (66/100), which pull the composite upward, while Cost of Living (8/100) and Rent (20/100) drag it downward. (How the weighting works.)

BEA RPP 104.8 (rent-RPP 111.8). BLS median salary $80,598, 1,928,660 jobs (Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Retail Salespersons, General and Operations Managers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,709/mo (studio $1,242).

FBI UCR (MN): 259 violent, 1625 property/100K. NCES: 15.8:1 ratio, 11.9% charter. DOL infant childcare $11,722/yr. EPA: 49 Superfund sites (MN). Ranks #217-#223 below.

Dimension detail

How Minneapolis scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 8/100 (20%)

Wages 94/100 (20%)

Rent 20/100 (15%)

Safety 66/100 (15%)

Schools 54/100 (10%)

Childcare 34/100 (10%)

Environment 60/100 (10%)

Key Data Points

104.8

Cost Index (RPP)

$80,598

Avg Median Salary

$1,709

2BR Fair Market Rent

259

Violent Crime/100K (MN)

15.8:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

$11,722

Infant Childcare/yr (MN)

Superfund Sites (MN)

1,928,660

Total Employment

Crime, schools, childcare, and environment data shown at state level where metro-specific data is unavailable.

Compare Minneapolis With...

Minneapolis vs St. Cloud Compare → Minneapolis vs Sioux Falls Compare → Minneapolis vs Mankato Compare → Minneapolis vs Wildwood Compare → Minneapolis vs Waterloo Compare → Minneapolis vs Paducah Compare →

Ranking Context

Minneapolis outranks 43% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#217	Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA	48.1	C+
#218	Las Cruces, NM	48.1	C+
#219	Midland, TX	48.5	C+
#220	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	48.0	C+
#221	St. George, UT	48.0	C+
#222	Boise City, ID	47.9	C+
#223	Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL	47.9	C+

MN Metro Scores

St. Cloud, MN A+ 69.5 Sioux Falls, SD-MN A 64.0 Mankato, MN A 63.5 Rochester, MN A 63.4 Grand Forks, ND-MN A 62.5 Duluth, MN-WI A- 60.2

Using Minneapolis's Life Score

Minneapolis is a regional baseline, not a neighborhood reading, use it to shortlist, then dig into the dimensions that matter to you.

Its strongest dimension is wages (94/100) and its weakest is cost of living (8/100) - weigh those against your own priorities. How the score is built
Put Minneapolis head-to-head against another metro before you decide, every dimension, side by side. Compare metros
See where Minneapolis lands on the national rankings for cost, safety, pay and more. Browse rankings

Scores summarize federal data at the metro level; crime, schools and cost vary widely within a single metro.

Explore more

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Minneapolis's biggest strengths? ▼

Minneapolis's strongest dimensions are Wages (94/100), Safety (66/100), Environment (60/100). Wages is top-tier nationally.

What are Minneapolis's weakest areas? ▼

Minneapolis's lowest-scoring dimensions are Cost of Living (8/100), Rent (20/100), Childcare (34/100). Cost of Living weighs heavily on the composite.

How expensive is Minneapolis compared to the national average? ▼

Minneapolis's Regional Price Parity is 104.8 (4.8% more than national); rent RPP 111.8.

What is the average salary in Minneapolis? ▼

Minneapolis median salary: $80,598, 1,928,660 jobs. Top: Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Retail Salespersons, General and Operations Managers.

How is the life score calculated? ▼

Minneapolis's 48.0/100 blends 7 federal-data dimensions - see our methodology page for the weighting.

Research Guides

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, and EPA. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare Editorial

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

All federal data sources used on this page

U.S. Census Bureau ACS - multi-dimension demographic + housing + income aggregates for cross-area comparison. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
BEA Regional Economic Accounts - GDP, personal income, employment by state and metro. bea.gov/data/regional
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) - wage estimates for comparable-area indexing. bls.gov/oes
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) - crime statistics for safety-score component. fbi.gov/ucr
NCES Common Core of Data - public-school quality indicators by area. nces.ed.gov/ccd
EPA AirNow + Air Quality System (AQS) - air-quality measurements by area. epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data
HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR) - county and metro housing-cost indicators. huduser.gov/datasets/fmr

Every figure on PlainCompare is loaded directly from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OEWS, NCES, DOL, EPA, and the Census Bureau, no number is typed in by an editor. This metro's Life Score is computed directly from the 7 federal sources cited above. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.