Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Mendota Heights's standout: the median household earns $133K. Overall it grades A−, 109th of 271 graded towns in Minnesota. Residents are healthier than 93% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates and it has 8 miles of trail. 67% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Mendota Heights, above both Minnesota’s towns (33%) and U.S. towns (29%). Mendota Heights has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Fort Snelling-Mendota Bridge and Oheyawahe-Pilot Knob.
Where Mendota Heights beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Mendota Heights | MN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6% | 11.4% |
Where Mendota Heights’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Minnesota), ordered by how far Mendota Heights is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 454 in 1860, 11,744 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1874 and 5 maps from 1896 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Mendota Heights. Close and well known come first.
Big draw9 mi Stadium & arenaU.S. Bank Stadium
5 mi Stadium & arenaGrand Casino Arena
8 mi Stadium & arenaHuntington Bank Stadium
10 mi Stadium & arenaTarget Field
3 mi LandmarkFort Snelling
6 mi Theme parkNickelodeon UniverseU.S. Bank Stadium: Darb02, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Grand Casino Arena: AlexiusHoratius, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Huntington Bank Stadium: Lectrician2, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Target Field: Lectrician2, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Fort Snelling: en:User:The Statue With The Dictionary, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Nickelodeon Universe: Tyler Vigen, CC BY 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Mendota Heights, 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 Mendota Heights.
Mendota Heights draws workers from St. Paul and beyond, reports less crime than Eagan or any other graded neighbor and has colder winter nights than most of the country, though not than most of Minnesota.
Its typical home is the priciest on its borders; Lilydale is next at $407K.
The typical Mendota Heights home is worth about $571,000, up 3.3% in a year, 64% above the Minnesota typical home. Mendota Heights’ median rent is $1,631 a month.
| Mendota Heights | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,631 a month | $1,192 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 79% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by the West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan school district. The largest public high school is Two Rivers High School, with 1,710 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friendly Hills MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 785 | B− |
| Two Rivers High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,710 | B+ |
| Mendota ElementaryTop results in townGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 358 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MN on state tests and graduation
8.3 miles of trail in 17 parks and preserves. Fort Snelling State Park, at 840 acres with 4.3 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. The trail density in Mendota Heights is 0.8 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Fort Snelling State Park | 4.3 mi | 840 |
| 2. Dodge Nature Center | 2.4 mi | 163 |
| 3. Pilot Knob Preservation Site | 0.5 mi | 25 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
11,753 jobs are based in Mendota Heights, 2.3 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. 30.3% of workers work from home, against 17.6% across Minnesota.
Most working residents leave Mendota Heights for work: only 6% work in town. 30% of Mendota Heights workers work from home. Jobs based in Mendota Heights grew to 11,753 in 2023, 1,631 more than in 2013.
| Mendota Heights | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 30% | 14% | 11% |
| Median household income | $133,000 | $90,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 2.8% | 7.1% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its widest gap with Minnesota is food insecurity: 6% of its 9,313 adults worry about having enough food, against 11.4% statewide.
12% of adults report frequent mental distress in Mendota Heights. Only 1 of the 271 Minnesota towns we compare have a lower share of adults who feel lonely than Mendota Heights. 10% of adults report frequent physical distress in Mendota Heights.
| Mendota Heights | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 16% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 30% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 30% | 33% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 8.6% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Mendota Heights | MN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6% | 11.4% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 5.1% | 9.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.3% | 8.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 73% of U.S. communities. Since 2014, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Mendota Heights.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
January nights average 7°: colder than most of the country, but milder than 97% of Minnesota places with climate records; July afternoons average 82.6°.
Mendota Heights has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. About 51 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Mendota Heights | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 7°F | 6°F | 22°F |
| July high | 83°F | 82°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Its B tops all 3 graded towns on its borders; Eagan (C+) comes closest. Reported crimes fell from 167 to 100 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
29 within 15 miles of the center of Mendota Heights
About 6 of every 100 Mendota Heights residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Minnesota.
16.7% of the town is conserved land, across 17 parks and preserves.
3 places in Mendota Heights on the National Register of Historic Places.
5 notable people were born in Mendota Heights.
City in Minnesota, United States
Mendota Heights ( men-DOH-tə) is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. It is a first-ring southern suburb of the Twin Cities. The population was 11,744 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Mendota Heights.
| Town | MN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mendota Heights | #109 | A− | C | B | B | A |
| Lilydale | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Mendota | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Eagan | #108 | A− | C | C+ | B+ | A |
| St. Paul | #259 | C | C+ | D | C− | B+ |
| Bloomington | #225 | B− | C | D | C+ | A |
Lilydale and Mendota aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Mendota Heights with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Mendota Heights grades A− overall, better than 82% of U.S. towns and #109 of 271 in Minnesota. It grades A for health, B for safety and B for schools.
That is 5.7 years of the area's median household income ($99,833 across the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI metro area).
Mendota Heights has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places. 5 notable people were born here, including Ann Bancroft and David Hicks.
