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Place dossier plate
SheetMN-WEST-ST-PAUL-MN · West St. Paul, MN 21,076 pop · income 50th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around West St. Paul
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest West St. Paul on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hays · lowest
56,861
Hays · lowest
56,861 median HH income
41.1% of the leader · rank #1
Hanlontown · near
70,729
Hanlontown · near
70,729 median HH income
51.1% of the leader · rank #2
Athena · near
70,729
Athena · near
70,729 median HH income
51.1% of the leader · rank #3
Douglass · near
70,735
Douglass · near
70,735 median HH income
51.1% of the leader · rank #4
West St. Paul · this city
70,738
West St. Paul · this city
70,738 median HH income
51.1% of the leader · rank #5
Borden · near
70,750
Borden · near
70,750 median HH income
51.1% of the leader · rank #6
Mineola · highest
138,385
Mineola · highest
138,385 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for West St. Paul on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 21,076.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
West St. Paul - the verdict
Nationally, West St. Paul sits in the 50th percentile for household income and the 5th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
50th
percentile, household income
62nd
percentile, home value
36th
percentile, median rent
5th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: West St. Paul, MN
Minnesota's West St. Paul is a small city, with 21,076 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. West St. Paul households earn a median of $70,738 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.0%. West St. Paul's housing stock carries a median value of $281,800, and the median resident age is 38.9 years. Educational attainment runs 35.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 62.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 35 residential building permits were authorized in West St. Paul (Building Boom), up 600% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. West St. Paul's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 4464.9 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Minnesota tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 98.6 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,125 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $225 across Minnesota, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 42.4 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of West St. Paul's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from reported crime to work and mobility to housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For West St. Paul, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in West St. Paul?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 4464.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 96% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
What does the journey to work look like in West St. Paul?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in West St. Paul?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 4.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Which cities make useful reference points for West St. Paul?
Within Minnesota, the closest population matches are Willmar (21,136 residents, $63,368 income); Otsego (21,358 residents, $127,219 income); New Hope (21,402 residents, $73,698 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Gardner, MA (21,075 residents); Hays, KS (21,078 residents); Mineola, NY (21,082 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Population change
Is West St. Paul growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,390 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +6.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 35 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+6.8%
2025 estimate
21,950
2020 estimate
20,560
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above median income · poverty 7.0% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
98.6 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Minnesota average
C-
City profile score · West St. Paul, MN
53/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share B-
35.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime C
163 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate C-
7.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C-
$70,738
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cost of living D
98.6 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
West St. Paul profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 67/100 (B-) · 35.0%
Violent crime: 55/100 (C) · 163 /100k
Poverty rate: 53/100 (C-) · 7.0%
Household income: 50/100 (C-) · $70,738
Cost of living: 46/100 (D) · 98.6 index
Where West St. Paul sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
West St. Paul's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - West St. Paul highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
West St. Paul, MN (this city): home $281,800, crime 4,465/100k
Gardner, MA : home $271,300, crime 949/100k
Hays, KS : home $220,100, crime 1,694/100k
Hanahan, SC : home $339,800, crime 1,644/100k
Willmar, MN : home $186,000, crime 1,731/100k
New Hope, MN : home $314,600, crime 2,131/100k
Forest Lake, MN : home $375,900, crime 1,596/100k
Northfield, MN : home $305,300, crime 1,502/100k
South St. Paul, MN : home $266,800, crime 1,671/100k
How does West St. Paul compare to other US cities?
Here's how West St. Paul stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income50% higher than other cities
Home value62% pricier than other cities
Median rent36% pricier than other cities
Safety5% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Minnesota alone, West St. Paul ranks #225 of 229 Minnesota cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares West St. Paul against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Minnesota only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Minnesota-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places West St. Paul near the bottom of Minnesota's cities
Among the 785 Minnesota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, West St. Paul ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares West St. Paul only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#348 of 775
55th percentile in Minnesota
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 785
0th percentile in Minnesota
Median Home Value
#170 of 774
78th percentile in Minnesota
Poverty Rate
#309 of 785
60th percentile in Minnesota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#153 of 784
80th percentile in Minnesota
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Minnesota only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
50th percentile nationally for median household income · 5th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
West St. Paul's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
West St. Paul's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How West St. Paul's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$281,80038th percentilemore affordable than 38% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
West St. Paul's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,657 of 15,516
More affordable than 31% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,975 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.0×, West St. Paul sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,657 of 15,516 and #1,975 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$70,738West St. Paul, MN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context West St. Paul, MN median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for West St. Paul, MN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)35.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
21,076
Median Income
$70,738
Median Home Value
$281,800
Median Age
38.9
Poverty Rate
7.0%
Labor force participation
62.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
35.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
4464.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
162.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
4302.2
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
West St. Paul's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
20,560 residents
2021
20,881 residents
2022
21,817 residents
2023
21,782 residents
2024
21,966 residents
2025
21,950 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
35
housing units authorized
Single-Family
29
detached homes
Multifamily
6
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
5
5
0
$1.7M
2020
233
5
228
$30.9M
2021
629
2
627
$105.4M
2022
15
15
0
$4.2M
2023
138
38
100
$25.4M
2024
35
29
6
$11.2M
Permit volume increased 600% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
70.5%
Carpool
6.5%
Public Transit
2.3%
Walk
2.6%
Work from Home
17.5%
Other
0.6%
Based on 10,552 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Minnesota statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Minnesota at $225 (electricity about $95 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Minnesota statewide averages, not a meter reading for West St. Paul. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Minnesota's BEA cost-of-living index is 98.6 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around West St. Paul is $1,125/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Minnesota statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 42.4 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Minnesota statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county West St. Paul sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How West St. Paul compares to similar-size Minnesota cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.