Minnesota city guide
Moving From California to Woodbury, MN
A fast-growing east metro suburb of St. Paul with large lots, newer construction, and strong schools.
Housing comparison
California versus Woodbury, side by side
- Median home value
- $725,800
- $450,200
- Median annual property tax
- $5,114
- not available
- Median monthly cost, owners with a mortgage
- $2,844
- not available
- Population
- 39.0 million (state)
- 80,590
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 Woodbury
Woodbury sits on the east side of the Twin Cities metro, across the St. Croix River valley from Wisconsin, and it has grown from a small township into one of Minnesota's largest suburbs over the past three decades. Most of what you see driving through it was built after 1990, which sets it apart from the older inner-ring suburbs on the west side of the metro.
For a California buyer, the appeal is straightforward: newer homes, larger lots than the west metro typically offers at a comparable price, strong public schools, and a lower median home value than Edina while still sitting within a reasonable commute of downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis.
The trade is that Woodbury reads as a newer, more car-dependent suburb than St. Louis Park or Edina. Its commercial corridors are built around big-box retail and strip centers rather than a historic walkable core, and commuting into either downtown means crossing the river valley on I-94 or Highway 494.
Woodbury fits you if
- You want newer construction, larger lots, and more square footage per dollar than the west metro typically offers.
- Strong public schools and youth sports and activities matter to your household.
- You are comfortable with a car-dependent suburban layout rather than a walkable downtown core.
- You want proximity to St. Paul and reasonable access to Minneapolis without inner-ring suburb prices.
Look elsewhere if
- You want a historic, walkable town center. Woodbury's commercial areas are built around retail centers, not a traditional downtown.
- You want the shortest possible commute into downtown Minneapolis; St. Louis Park and Edina sit closer on the west side.
- You want mature, tree-canopied streets. Much of Woodbury's tree cover is still filling in behind newer construction.
- You need Sun Belt winters. Woodbury has the same cold, snowy Twin Cities winter as the rest of the metro.
Housing in Woodbury
Woodbury's housing stock is dominated by construction from the 1990s through today, with subdivisions of two-story colonials and ramblers on lots larger than typical inner-ring suburbs, plus ongoing new-build activity on the city's eastern edge.
The median home value is $450,200, above St. Louis Park but below Edina, and buyers typically get more square footage and a larger lot for the price than in the older west metro suburbs.
Because so much of the city was built recently, there is less of the character variation found in Edina or St. Louis Park. Buyers should expect a consistent, planned-subdivision feel rather than a mix of housing eras.
Work and the local economy
Woodbury has developed its own retail and office base along Valley Creek Road and Radio Drive, including a large shopping district anchored by national retailers, but most residents commute elsewhere in the metro for work.
St. Paul, roughly 15 minutes west, and Minneapolis, roughly 25 to 30 minutes northwest, are the two primary job centers residents commute to, drawing on the metro's health care, finance, and corporate employers.
3M's headquarters in nearby Maplewood and a cluster of medical and insurance employers in the east metro also draw Woodbury residents without requiring a long commute across the river valley.
Climate and setting
Woodbury shares the same continental climate as the rest of the Twin Cities metro: cold, snowy winters from November into March and warm, humid summers. Its position east of the Mississippi and St. Croix valleys does not meaningfully change the pattern.
The terrain is gently rolling, with more open, recently developed land on the city's eastern half than the fully built-out west metro suburbs, giving newer subdivisions slightly more room between homes.
The St. Croix River valley to the east offers hiking, boating, and scenic overlooks a short drive from most Woodbury neighborhoods, which is a genuine amenity not available to the west metro suburbs.
Getting around, care, and schools
- Commercial air
- Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) is roughly 25 to 30 minutes away with extensive domestic and international service.
- Highways
- Interstate 94 and Interstate 494 both serve the city, connecting to St. Paul and Minneapolis.
- Hospital
- M Health Fairview Woodbury and Lakeview Hospital in nearby Stillwater serve the area.
- Public schools
- South Washington County Schools.
- Higher education
- No four-year university is located in Woodbury itself; several metro campuses are within a 30-minute drive.
- Setting
- Gently rolling east metro suburb near the St. Croix River valley, on the Minnesota-Wisconsin border area.
The trade-offs
- The city is built around car-dependent retail corridors rather than a walkable historic downtown.
- Commutes into Minneapolis are longer than from the west metro suburbs, since Woodbury sits on the opposite side of the metro.
- Newer subdivisions mean less mature tree cover and architectural variety than Edina or St. Louis Park.
- Winters are the same cold, snowy Twin Cities winters as the rest of the metro, with no local advantage.
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.
St. Louis Park
An inner-ring, walkable Minneapolis suburb that offers the same metro access as Edina at a meaningfully lower price.
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, Woodbury, MN profile, censusreporter.org.
- Data USA, Woodbury, MN profile, datausa.io.
- GeoStat.org, Trends and Changes in Woodbury, Minnesota, geostat.org.
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