Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Minneapolis's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Minneapolis?
Your $100,000 in Minneapolis has the same purchasing power as $94,331 in the average US city. You'd need $5,669 more here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Minneapolis's cost index of 106, sorted by closest match.
Minneapolis has a handful of real selling points, and they're not the kind of thing you find in a brochure. Solidly above-average earnings and walkable in a way most us cities aren't are the headliners, plus 4 more things worth knowing. The rest is below.
The typical household in Minneapolis pulls in $76,332 — comfortably above the US median. Combined with the cost of living here, the income-to-expense ratio works out better than a quick look at either number in isolation would suggest.
With a citywide Walk Score of 79/100, Minneapolis sits firmly in the walkable-by-US-standards camp. Pick a central neighborhood and most daily errands happen without keys in your hand. Transit Score comes in at 74/100 too, so even the trips that are too far to walk are usually doable on a bus or train.
Bike Score of 93/100 in Minneapolis. That puts it in the small group of US cities where you can do groceries, commute, and run errands on a bike without it being a feat of urban survival.
Average AQI in Minneapolis comes in around 37, well into the "good" band. Clean air isn't a thing you appreciate until you've lived somewhere it wasn't — and this is the side of that line you want to be on.
Average commute time in Minneapolis runs around 23 minutes one-way — short enough that it doesn't restructure your day. Compared to the 45-plus-minute commutes that are normal in major metros, the difference adds up to a real lifestyle gap.
Minneapolis has a college-educated share of about 54% among adults 25+, which is higher than the national norm. It shows up in the local job mix, in the school district's reputation, and in the kind of conversations you have at the coffee shop.
Reasons are pulled from Minneapolis's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Yes — and a lot of it. With winter averages near 12°F, Minneapolis sees real accumulation most years. Salt for the steps, tires that handle ice, and a sense of humor about February are the usual costs of admission.
Properly cold. Minneapolis's winter sits around 12°F on average — and that's the average, meaning plenty of nights drop well below zero. People here own gear.
Reliably warm. Minneapolis's summer averages around 81°F, the kind of heat where you remember to leave the house before noon for outdoor things and accept that the back of your shirt will be wet by lunchtime.
Minneapolis falls in roughly USDA Zone 6. The zone classification is based on average annual minimum temperatures, so it's the right lookup for whether perennials and trees will overwinter here. Note that this is approximate from our winter-temperature data — check the USDA map for the exact zone before betting an expensive plant on it.
Roughly 863 feet (263 m). That's modest elevation — comparable to most inland-Midwest and Southern cities.
Minneapolis's reported crime rate runs high: about 6,541 per 100,000 residents, materially above the national average. Specific neighborhoods vary widely, but the city-wide aggregate is on the rougher end of the US distribution.
It's a middle-of-the-road US city on cost. Minneapolis's index of 106 sits within a few points of the national average — your money buys roughly what it would in a typical American metro.
Minneapolis scores 79/100 on Walk Score, putting it in the "very walkable" tier. Transit Score is 74 out of 100. It's the kind of city where you don't think of going to the grocery store as "going" to the grocery store.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $74,207 to live in Minneapolis the way a $70,000 earner lives in a typical US city. The math gets less forgiving the lower you go below that. Median rent in Minneapolis runs about $1,267/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.