Minnesota city guide
Moving From California to St. Louis Park, MN
An inner-ring, walkable Minneapolis suburb that offers the same metro access as Edina at a meaningfully lower price.
Housing comparison
California versus St. Louis Park, side by side
- Median home value
- $725,800
- $371,600
- Median annual property tax
- $5,114
- not available
- Median monthly cost, owners with a mortgage
- $2,844
- not available
- Population
- 39.0 million (state)
- 49,594
Figures are US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates for the city place. Property tax and monthly cost rows cover owner-occupied units with a mortgage, so they describe what current owners pay, not what a new buyer would pay at today's prices. California column is the statewide baseline used across this site.
Why Californians look at St. Louis Park
St. Louis Park sits directly west of downtown Minneapolis, bordering it closely enough that some residents can bike or bus downtown faster than drivers coming from farther-out suburbs. It has spent the last two decades redeveloping its light-rail corridor, its old industrial parcels, and its West End district into a denser, more walkable place than most Twin Cities suburbs its age.
For a California household comparing suburbs, the appeal next to Edina is straightforward: similar proximity to Minneapolis, similar walkable pockets, and a median home value roughly half of Edina's. It is not a discount version of Edina so much as a different kind of suburb, denser, younger in its population, and more mixed in housing type.
The city has its own METRO Green Line light rail extension stations opening the corridor further to downtown Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota, which is reshaping several neighborhoods around new transit-oriented apartment and condo development.
St. Louis Park fits you if
- You want Edina-level access to Minneapolis at a meaningfully lower price point.
- You want a walkable neighborhood core, transit access, and a mix of apartments, townhomes, and single-family houses rather than one housing type.
- You are comfortable with a denser, more urban-feeling suburb than a traditional subdivision town.
- You want proximity to the University of Minnesota and downtown Minneapolis without living in the city itself.
Look elsewhere if
- You want a large lot and a quiet, low-density subdivision feel. St. Louis Park is denser than Woodbury or outer suburbs.
- You want the single most established, highest-end school reputation in the metro; Edina's is generally regarded as stronger.
- You dislike ongoing redevelopment and construction. Several corridors here are actively being rebuilt around light rail.
- You need Sun Belt winters. This suburb has the same cold, snowy Twin Cities winter as everywhere else in the metro.
Housing in St. Louis Park
Housing here ranges from small post-war rambler and cape-cod style homes in the older eastern neighborhoods, to mid-century split-levels further west, to new apartment and condo towers built around the light rail corridor and the West End redevelopment.
The median home value is $371,600, roughly 60 percent of Edina's median, which gives buyers meaningfully more house or a meaningfully lower entry price for similar proximity to downtown Minneapolis.
The city has actively encouraged infill and transit-oriented redevelopment for two decades, so buyers should expect an evolving mix of older single-family blocks next to newer multifamily buildings rather than a uniform subdivision character.
Work and the local economy
St. Louis Park hosts a working base of corporate offices, medical and professional services, and retail along its major corridors, including the West End district anchored by office towers and a large retail and entertainment complex.
Like Edina, most residents work across the broader Twin Cities metro rather than solely within the city, drawing on the region's health care, finance, retail, and manufacturing employers.
The METRO Green Line extension is intended to strengthen the corridor's appeal to employers and residents who want transit access to downtown Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota without a car-dependent commute.
Climate and setting
St. Louis Park shares the Twin Cities' continental climate: cold, snowy winters from roughly November into March and warm, humid summers with regular thunderstorms. There is no geographic feature here that changes the pattern from the rest of the metro.
The city is flat to gently rolling and largely built out, with mature trees in its older eastern neighborhoods and newer, more exposed streetscapes around recent redevelopment.
Residents rely on the Minneapolis chain of lakes, nearby regional parks, and the city's own creek corridor trails for outdoor recreation rather than any distinctive terrain within St. Louis Park itself.
Getting around, care, and schools
- Commercial air
- Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) is roughly 20 to 25 minutes away with extensive domestic and international service.
- Highways
- Highway 100 and Interstate 394 both run through the city, with quick access to Interstate 494.
- Hospital
- Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital is located in St. Louis Park.
- Public schools
- St. Louis Park Public Schools.
- Higher education
- No four-year university is located in the city itself; the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus is a short drive away.
- Setting
- Flat, largely built-out inner-ring suburb directly west of downtown Minneapolis.
The trade-offs
- Density and ongoing redevelopment mean more construction activity and less of a settled, finished feel than Edina or Woodbury.
- School reputation, while solid, is generally regarded as a step behind Edina's in local rankings and reputation.
- Winters are the same cold, snowy Twin Cities winters as the rest of the metro.
- Some neighborhoods sit close to Highway 100 and Interstate 394 traffic corridors, which affects noise in those pockets.
Other Minnesota towns people compare
Rochester
The Mayo Clinic anchors the strongest small-city job market in the Midwest, with a growing, internationally connected population of more than 120,000.
Edina
An established, affluent inner-ring suburb of Minneapolis, and the metro's reference-point address for top schools and long-settled neighborhoods.
Woodbury
A fast-growing east metro suburb of St. Paul with large lots, newer construction, and strong schools.
Duluth
A Lake Superior port city with dramatic hillside terrain, low housing costs, and the coldest, snowiest winters of any city on this list.
Northfield
A river town anchored by two nationally known colleges, offering small-town living within commuting range of the Twin Cities.
Statewide figures, tax detail, and the full Minnesota picture are on the Minnesota page. Compare property, income, and sales tax across all 49 destination states on Taxes, and see where Californians are actually moving on Stats.
Sources
- US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B25077 (median home value), retrieved via Census Reporter, September 3, 2026.
- US Census Bureau, ACS 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B25103 (median real estate taxes paid, owner-occupied units with a mortgage), retrieved September 3, 2026.
- US Census Bureau, ACS 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B25088 (median selected monthly owner costs, owner-occupied units with a mortgage), retrieved September 3, 2026.
- US Census Bureau, ACS 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B01003 (total population), retrieved September 3, 2026.
- Census Reporter, St. Louis Park, MN profile, censusreporter.org.
- Population Review, St. Louis Park, MN population and housing profile, populationreview.org.
- Metropolitan Council, METRO Green Line Extension project information, metrotransit.org.
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