Cost of Living
per year
per month
How St. Paul's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in St. Paul?
Your $100,000 in St. Paul has the same purchasing power as $94,967 in the average US city. You'd need $5,033 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 St. Paul's cost index of 105, sorted by closest match.
Wondering whether you should move to St. Paul? It depends on what you're optimizing for, but the city has real arguments in its favor: genuinely walkable, not just walkable-on-paper and air quality you don't have to think about, plus 2 more things worth knowing. The data behind each is below.
St. Paul's Walk Score is 86/100 — top-tier walkability by US standards. Groceries, coffee, work, social life: most of it lands within reasonable foot range of wherever you live. A lot of residents skip car ownership entirely, which is its own form of savings on top of the lifestyle change.
St. Paul's air quality index averages about 37 — comfortably in the EPA's "good" range. No daily ritual of checking the AQI before going for a run, no smoky-day plans, no surprise asthma flare-ups for the kids. The kind of background condition you notice mostly by its absence.
The average one-way commute in St. Paul is about 23 minutes — short by US standards (the national average is closer to 27). Over a year of working days, that's hundreds of hours that don't get spent in traffic, which is the kind of thing you notice in the weekend rather than the weekday.
43% of adults 25 and over in St. Paul hold a bachelor's degree or higher — meaningfully above the US average of around 36%. That correlates with the things you'd expect: stronger schools, more white-collar employers, more bookstores than the population alone would predict.
Reasons are pulled from St. Paul'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, St. Paul 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.
Cold enough to plan around. Winter in St. Paul averages roughly 12°F, with stretches where daytime highs don't break freezing for weeks. Decent insulation, a real coat, and a car that starts in cold weather are non-negotiable.
Hot, but not desert-hot. Summer in St. Paul runs about 81°F on average, with afternoons in the 90s and humidity that varies by region. AC is standard rather than optional.
St. Paul 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.
St. Paul is at about 843 feet (257 m) above sea level. High enough to be solidly above any coastal concern, low enough that altitude isn't a factor.
Higher than average. St. Paul reports about 5,496 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the US average of around 3,500. Citywide numbers are often dragged up by a few hotspots; specific neighborhoods can be very safe in cities that don't look great on paper, and vice versa.
Roughly average. St. Paul's cost-of-living index is 105, putting it in the band where rent, groceries, and utilities track the national norm. Not a bargain, not a premium.
Yes — St. Paul is one of the more walkable US cities. A Walk Score of 86/100 means most daily errands can be done on foot in most neighborhoods. Many residents go car-free comfortably.
Roughly $73,710 a year would match the lifestyle of someone earning $70,000 in an average US city. That's a starting point, not a target — negotiate higher when you can. Median rent in St. Paul runs about $1,174/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.