Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
South St. Paul gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $298K, 3 years of the Minneapolis metro’s $100K median household income. It grades B overall, 206th among Minnesota's 271 graded towns. On the plus side, it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 78% of U.S. towns. South St. Paul has 5 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Stockyards Exchange and Serbian Home. Only 10 of the 274 Minnesota towns we compare have a higher peak summer temperature than South St. Paul. The biggest park or preserve is Kaposia Landing, at 85 acres.
Where South St. Paul beats most towns.
Stockyards ExchangeWhere South St. Paul’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 South St. Paul is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 907 in 1860, a low of 489 in 1880, 20,759 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1848 and 6 maps from 1896 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around South St. Paul. Close and well known come first.
Big draw12 mi Stadium & arenaU.S. Bank Stadium
5 mi Stadium & arenaGrand Casino Arena
11 mi Stadium & arenaHuntington Bank Stadium
13 mi Stadium & arenaTarget Field
7 mi LandmarkFort Snelling
8 mi Stadium & arenaAllianz FieldU.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 · Allianz Field: Andy Witchger, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in South St. Paul, 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 South St. Paul.
South St. Paul has homes that are cheap against local pay, is healthy by national standards but mid-pack in Minnesota and has colder winter nights than most of the country, though not than most of Minnesota.
Jobs based in South St. Paul fell to 5,683 in 2023, 733 fewer than in 2013. Only 6% of working residents stay in South St. Paul for work; the rest commute out. In South St. Paul, the average trip to work is 21 minutes, below both Minnesota’s towns (23 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). Half commute less than 9 miles.
| South St. Paul | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 15% | 14% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 6.3% | 9.9% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 8.3% | 7% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The South St. Paul Public School District runs its public schools. The largest public high school is South St. Paul High School, with 866 students. Two of its 9 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln Center ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 670 | C |
| South St. Paul High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 866 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MN on state tests and graduation
For South St. Paul, the natural-hazard score from FEMA is 26 of 100. Federal disaster aid has reached households in South St. Paul after 2 declared disasters, most recently in 2012. FEMA puts 35% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 27% to tornadoes. Paid flood insurance claims here since 2011: 3.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Within Minnesota it is less healthy than 61% of the 271 graded towns: Minnesota sets a high bar.
29% of South St. Paul adults have high blood pressure, below both the Minnesota town median (31%) and the median of U.S. towns (35%). The town beats the Minnesota average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 3. The share of adults in South St. Paul who had a checkup this year: 74%.
| South St. Paul | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 74% | 75% | 79% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 31% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 30% | 36% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 9.6% | 7.3% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | South St. Paul | MN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7.4% | 8.5% |
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 5.2% | 5.9% |
| More uninsured adults | 9.6% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
January nights average 6.6°: colder than most of the country, but milder than 93% of Minnesota places with climate records; July afternoons average 82.9°.
About 51 inches of snow falls in a winter. South St. Paul’s January low is 7°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Reported crimes fell from 387 to 286 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The property offense rate for South St. Paul comes to 12.8 per 1,000 residents. The rate of reported violence for South St. Paul comes to 1.1 per 1,000 residents.
| South St. Paul | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 12.8 per 1,000 residents | 8.6 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.1 per 1,000 residents | 1.1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
At 3 years of the Minneapolis metro’s $100K median household income, the typical home (about $298K) costs less against local pay than in 88% of Minnesota towns; that ratio is one input to that grade.
On the market in South St. Paul: a median 15 days to sell. A typical home locally is worth about $298,000, up 2.8% in a year, 14% below the Minnesota typical home. 56% of the homes sold in South St. Paul went for more than their asking price.
| South St. Paul | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 70% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,199 a month | $1,192 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
No age group stands out against Minnesota: all are within 4 points. South St. Paul: 15% of residents are 65 or older. Minnesota has 39% of adults 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more; here it is 33%. The age of the median resident here is 37.2 years.
| South St. Paul | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 37.2 years | 39.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 15% | 18% | 18% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.2 points. Across Minnesota, 49.9% of residents are women. Median age: women 37.1, men 37.2.
| South St. Paul | MN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.4% | 12.1% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.5% | 10.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.7% | 8.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 15.5% | 13% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.9% | 13.5% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.6% | 11.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.5% | 12.9% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.9% | 10.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.1% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 7.3% | 6.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26.8% | 23.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.2% | 19.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.1% | 11.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23.5% | 25.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 9% | 13.8% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Across 15 parks and preserves: 0.6 miles of trail. South St. Paul’s trail density stands at 0.1 miles per square mile.
| South St. Paul | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 6.3% | 4.6% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Kaposia Landing | — | 85 |
| 2. Kaposia Park | 0.1 mi | 73 |
| 3. Simon's Ravine | 0.2 mi | 20 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
26 within 15 miles of the center of South St. Paul
About 5 of every 100 South St. Paul residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Minnesota.
5 places in South St. Paul on the National Register of Historic Places.
13 notable people were born in South St. Paul.
City in Minnesota, United States
South St. Paul is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States, immediately south and southeast of St. Paul and east of West St. Paul. The population was 20,759 at the 2020 census. The town was a major meat-packing location, and many residents are descended from immigrants of Southern European and Eastern European heritage, who came to work in the meat-packing plants in the early twentieth century. A post office called "South St. Paul" has been in operation since 1888. The city was named based on its location, south of St. Paul. There is a high school and middle school called "South St. Paul Secondary", which is home to the South St. Paul Packers.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with South St. Paul.
| Town | MN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South St. Paul | #206 | B | B | C+ | C | B+ |
| Inver Grove Heights | #89 | A | C+ | C+ | B+ | A |
| West St. Paul | #217 | B− | B− | D | B | B+ |
| St. Paul | #259 | C | C+ | D | C− | B+ |
| Newport | #185 | B | C+ | — | A− | B− |
Newport reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare South St. Paul with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. South St. Paul grades B overall, better than 56% of U.S. towns and #206 of 271 in Minnesota. It grades B+ for health, C+ for safety and C for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
13 notable people were born here, including Justin Faulk and Trevor Fehrman.
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