St. Paul Cost of Living

What living in St. Paul costs

At 1.00x national costs, St. Paul is more expensive than 49 and cheaper than 42 of the 99 other metros here. In practical terms that is $1,300 a month for a one-bedroom and roughly $320,000 to buy.

The price-to-rent ratio here is roughly 21, which is high. Above about 20, renting and investing the down payment usually beats buying over a normal holding period — the purchase price is steep relative to what the same property earns as a rental.

Working and living here

St. Paul is a metro of roughly 3.7M and roughly flat, running on healthcare, insurance, publishing/education. Larger employers include 3M (nearby Maplewood), HealthPartners, Ecolab.

Minnesota taxes income at the state level, and St. Paul adds no separate city tax. Cost-of-living indexes exclude income tax entirely, so compare after-tax figures rather than index ratios when weighing this metro against one in a no-income-tax state.

Getting around: St. Paul is workable without a car in many neighborhoods. Going car-free is realistic in parts of the metro, which is worth roughly $9,000 a year against a car-dependent city at the same rent.

Climate: Cold continental climate with January lows near 8°F and snow common; warm summers with July highs near 83°F.

Shares the Twin Cities metro and light-rail Green Line with Minneapolis, but has notably lower housing costs than its twin across the river.