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Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Single-income living requires cities where one paycheck covers everything. It's fine. Not great, not bad. We scored 2 cities across Minnesota on rent, cost of living, and population. St Paul ($1,485/mo, 303,820 residents) ranks #1.
#1 Ranked: St Paul — cost index 97, rent $1,485/mo, income $73,055
Singles scoring: rent $1,485/mo (solo housing), cost index 97, population 303,820 — livability on one income
Data sourced from Census Bureau, Zillow, BLS, and Tax Foundation — current as of 2026
| Rank | City | Cost Index | Median Rent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Paul | 97 | $1,485 | Details |
| 2 | Minneapolis | 101 | $1,638 | Details |
Single-income living requires cities where one paycheck covers everything. It's fine. Not great, not bad. We scored 2 cities across Minnesota on rent, cost of living, and population. St Paul ($1,485/mo, 303,820 residents) ranks #1.
Here's St Paul by the numbers — and there's a lot to like (and a little to watch). Cost index: 97. Rent: $1,485/month — though some people might weigh that differently — . Income: $73,055/year. Home price: $289,137. Population: 303,820. The strongest category is Utilities at 89; the most expensive is Healthcare at 100. Translate that rent to annual numbers, and residents are saving renters $4,920 per year vs. the national median. That's the sort of advantage that turns renters into homeowners.
Single-income living means absorbing 100% of housing costs. Our model weights rent under $1,300 (20pts), cost of living (15pts), and city population (10pts) — because a social scene matters when you're on your own. St Paul at $1,485/mo in a city of 303,820 hits the right balance. Minneapolis offers a larger city as a runner-up.
Here's the thing: Balance that against the cost side: The 2 cities we track in Minnesota paint a clearly affordable picture. Average cost index: 99. Median rent: $1,562/month. Household income: $76,662. Minnesota is known for Twin Cities prosperity, outstate thrift — and the data backs that reputation convincingly.
Bottom line: St Paul leads this ranking for clear, data-backed reasons — but the "best" city depends on your priorities. Click into any city below to see the full detail page with 12-month trend charts, profession-specific salary data, and a breakdown of all five cost categories. If you're seriously considering a move, use our salary calculator to model your specific income against these numbers.
303,820 residents · Minnesota
A closer look at St Paul: the cost index of 97 breaks down to a Utilities index of 89 (strongest category) and a Healthcare index of 100 (weakest). Median rent is $1,485/month — 22% below the national median — while household income sits at $73,055, meaning locals spend about 24% of income on rent. That's a healthy margin by any standard (which, to be fair, is a metric that favors smaller cities).
425,115 residents · Minnesota
What does daily life actually cost in Minneapolis? Start with the 24% rent-to-income ratio — that's the kind of margin that lets people build savings. On the category level, Utilities (index 93) is where the real savings show up, while Healthcare (index 104) is the line item most likely to surprise newcomers. Income at $80,269 and homes at $327,043 round out a profile that ranks #2 for clear reasons (and that gap widens if you factor in state taxes).
St Paul ranks #1 in Minnesota for this analysis with a cost index of 97 and median income of $73,055.
St Paul scores highest for singles due to its below-average cost of living, median rent of $1,485/mo, and competitive median income of $73,055.
Our cost of living index uses real Zillow rent data as the foundation, indexed to 100 (national median). Sub-categories (housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare) are derived from the overall index with regional adjustments. Data is updated monthly.
St Paul (ranked #1) has a cost index of 97 and rent of $1,485/mo, while Minneapolis (ranked #2) has a cost index of 101 and rent of $1,638/mo — a 4-point difference in cost of living.
City data is refreshed monthly from Census Bureau population estimates, Zillow rent and home price indices, BLS salary data, and Tax Foundation tax rates. Last updated: 2026.
The median 1-bedroom rent in St Paul is $1,485/month as of 2026, based on Zillow's Observed Rent Index. This is $410 below the national median of $1,895/month.
The median home price in St Paul is $289,137, which is 4.0× the local median income. It's on the edge of affordability for median-income households. The national median home price is $467,370.
Minnesota has a 9.85% state income tax rate. Combined state and local sales tax averages 7.545%, and the effective property tax rate is 1.02%.
This ranking was generated using data current as of early 2026. Population and income data comes from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (5-year estimates). Rent and home price data is from Zillow's monthly releases. Tax rates are from the Tax Foundation's 2025 edition. Rankings are refreshed monthly.