Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 31,846, settled in 1852.
Brooklyn Center grades C overall, ranked 261st of 271 in Minnesota, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. It is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns and 5% of its land is conserved. On the other side, its police reported 161 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 91% of U.S. towns. Brooklyn Center’s violent crime rate is 5.1 per 1,000 residents, against 1.1 in Minnesota’s towns and 1.6 across U.S. towns. On hazard risk, just 38 of Minnesota’s 575 towns do worse. Brooklyn Center's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 85% of U.S. towns.
Where Brooklyn Center beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
30,104 counted in 2010 and 33,782 in 2020; an estimated 31,846 in 2025.
Since 2020 the trend has turned: down 5.7%, after 12.2% growth in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Minnesota), ordered by how far Brooklyn Center is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 788 in 1920, 33,782 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1973 and 6 maps from 1902 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Brooklyn Center. Close and well known come first.
Big draw7 mi Stadium & arenaU.S. Bank Stadium
6 mi Stadium & arenaTarget Field
8 mi Stadium & arenaHuntington Bank Stadium
14 mi Stadium & arenaGrand Casino Arena
9 mi LakeBde Maka Ska
7 mi WaterfallSaint Anthony FallsU.S. Bank Stadium: Darb02, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Target Field: Lectrician2, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Huntington Bank Stadium: Lectrician2, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Grand Casino Arena: AlexiusHoratius, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bde Maka Ska: Tyler Vigen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Saint Anthony Falls: The original uploader was Mulad at English Wikipedia., Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Brooklyn Center, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Brooklyn Center.
Brooklyn Center has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Minnesota (mostly inland flooding) and reports violent crime at about twice the Minnesota rate.
Violent crime runs at 5.1 per 1,000 residents, about twice the Minnesota rate; the Safety Grade counts each violent crime four times, so this weighs most on its D.
The property crime rate in Brooklyn Center is 26.4 per 1,000 residents. Brooklyn Center reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 91% report less.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Two of its 19 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Millennium Academy CharterLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 845 | D− |
| Brooklyn Center High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 539 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MN on state tests and graduation
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 91% of Minnesota towns, with expected losses of about $413 per resident a year; that rating is what its C− for hazard risk is built on.
Brooklyn Center’s FEMA risk score is 76 of 100. Since 1990, 4 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Brooklyn Center.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
July afternoons average 82.4°: cooler than most of the country, but hotter than 88% of Minnesota places with climate records; January nights average 6.2°.
Brooklyn Center has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. About 54 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Brooklyn Center | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 6°F | 6°F | 22°F |
| July high | 82°F | 82°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Most working residents leave Brooklyn Center for work: only 5% work in town. 12% of Brooklyn Center residents live below the poverty line. Since 2013, Brooklyn Center has added 1,005 jobs, to 12,595 in 2023.
| Brooklyn Center | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 7% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $73,000 | $91,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 5.3% | 9.9% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
2.2 miles of trail in 18 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Palmer Lake Park, at 239 acres.
| Brooklyn Center | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.4% | 4.6% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Palmer Lake Park | 0.5 mi | 239 |
| 2. Northport Park | 0.5 mi | 21 |
| 3. Centennial Park | 0.3 mi | 90 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Within Minnesota it is less healthy than 70% of the 271 graded towns: Minnesota sets a high bar.
Brooklyn Center beats the Minnesota average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 19. 38% of adults feel lonely in Brooklyn Center. Only 3 of the 271 Minnesota towns we compare have a higher share of adults who worry about having enough food than Brooklyn Center.
| Brooklyn Center | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 30% | 33% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 11% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 7.3% | 8.1% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 35% | 35% |
| What stands out | Brooklyn Center | MN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.9% | 8.5% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 18.5% | 22.3% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 21.8% | 11.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 3 years of the Minneapolis metro’s $100K median household income, the typical home (about $296K) costs less against local pay than in 88% of Minnesota towns; that ratio is one input to its B− for cost of living.
The typical Brooklyn Center home is worth about $296,000, about the same as a year ago, 15% below the Minnesota typical home.
| Brooklyn Center | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 64% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,376 a month | $1,192 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
28 within 15 miles of the center of Brooklyn Center
About 6 of every 100 Brooklyn Center residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Minnesota.
City in Minnesota, United States
Brooklyn Center is a first-ring suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 33,782 at the 2020 census, and was estimated at 31,755 in 2024. It is part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. On February 18, 1911, the area became a village formed from parts of Brooklyn Township and Crystal Lake Township. On December 8, 1966, Brooklyn Center became a charter city. The city has commercial and industrial development. The majority of land use is single-family homes. and the city has become the most ethnically diverse community in the state.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Brooklyn Center.
| Town | MN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn Center | #261 | C | B− | D | C+ | B |
| Brooklyn Park | #199 | B | C+ | C− | B | A− |
| Crystal | #201 | B | B− | C− | C | A |
| Fridley | #251 | C | B− | D | C+ | B |
| Robbinsdale | #241 | C+ | C | C | C | A− |
| Minneapolis | #262 | C | C | D− | C | A− |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Brooklyn Center grades C overall, better than 26% of U.S. towns and #261 of 271 in Minnesota. It grades B for health, D for safety and C+ for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D.
That is 3 years of the area's median household income ($99,833 across the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
2 notable people were born here, including Debra Hilstrom and Steve Yeager.
