QoL Rank
Loading map…

Minnesota

Minnesota has a quality of life score of 73/100 (A, excellent) and ranks #3 of 51 states. Its strongest category is quality of life (86) and its weakest is cost of living (54). Its top-rated larger counties are Carver County, Nicollet County, Olmsted County.

  • Safety: 73
  • Cost of living: 54
  • Education: 78
  • Quality of life: 86

Key figures: violent crime 241.4 per 100,000 people a year (US 345.2); median rent $1,280 a month; median home value $329,300; median household income $85,070; life expectancy 79.3 years.

Counties in Minnesota, best first

  1. Stevens County 84
  2. Carver County 78
  3. Grant County 76
  4. Jackson County 75
  5. Cook County 75
  6. Rock County 74
  7. Nicollet County 74
  8. Olmsted County 73
  9. Wright County 73
  10. Traverse County 73
  11. Big Stone County 72
  12. Lake County 72
  13. Scott County 72
  14. Brown County 71
  15. McLeod County 71
  16. Dodge County 71
  17. Pipestone County 71
  18. Carlton County 70
  19. Washington County 70
  20. Fillmore County 70
  21. Douglas County 70
  22. Meeker County 70
  23. Marshall County 69
  24. Watonwan County 69
  25. Lyon County 69
  26. Pennington County 69
  27. Lac qui Parle County 68
  28. Wabasha County 67
  29. Faribault County 67
  30. Renville County 67
  31. Sherburne County 66
  32. Dakota County 66
  33. Roseau County 66
  34. Lincoln County 66
  35. Steele County 66
  36. Murray County 66
  37. Yellow Medicine County 66
  38. Le Sueur County 65
  39. Blue Earth County 65
  40. Otter Tail County 65
  41. Winona County 65
  42. Koochiching County 65
  43. Clearwater County 65
  44. Anoka County 65
  45. Kittson County 65
  46. Cottonwood County 65
  47. Redwood County 64
  48. Pope County 64
  49. Martin County 64
  50. Polk County 63
  51. Benton County 63
  52. Crow Wing County 63
  53. Stearns County 63
  54. St. Louis County 63
  55. Rice County 62
  56. Clay County 62
  57. Norman County 62
  58. Houston County 61
  59. Kandiyohi County 61
  60. Goodhue County 61
  61. Becker County 61
  62. Wilkin County 61
  63. Todd County 60
  64. Chisago County 60
  65. Sibley County 59
  66. Waseca County 59
  67. Freeborn County 59
  68. Red Lake County 59
  69. Itasca County 58
  70. Nobles County 58
  71. Chippewa County 58
  72. Wadena County 58
  73. Morrison County 58
  74. Hubbard County 57
  75. Mower County 56
  76. Hennepin County 56
  77. Kanabec County 55
  78. Swift County 51
  79. Isanti County 50
  80. Beltrami County 50
  81. Cass County 50
  82. Ramsey County 49
  83. Pine County 46
  84. Lake of the Woods County 46
  85. Aitkin County 45
  86. Mille Lacs County 44
  87. Mahnomen County 42

Your priorities

Choose how much each category counts toward the overall score. The map, rankings and every place’s overall score update as you go.

About the data

Every county is compared with every other US county, and every state with the other states.

Each measure becomes a percentile from 0 to 100, where 100 is always best. For crime, deaths, disaster risk, costs and commutes, the lowest value is best. A category score averages its measures’ percentiles and is then scaled so all four categories have the same spread around 50, so each counts equally. The overall score is the average of the four. 50 is a typical place, and most land between 35 and 65. Your priorities lets you weight the categories differently.

Grades: A 65 and up, B 55–64, C 45–54, D 35–44, F under 35.

Each category lists a county’s own figures next to its state’s and the US figures. Under the state and US columns, Difference shows whether the county is higher or lower, as a share of that figure (hover for the exact gap). Rank shows where it ranks instead: “ranked 75%” means it does better than 75% of the counties in its state, or in the US. A green arrow or dot means the county does better, red means worse.

Compare puts any two places side by side, counties or states, in any state. The better value in each row is highlighted.

A county gets an overall score only if all four categories have data and at least 60% of the measures are present. Small counties often have suppressed data, and without this rule they rank at the top on just a few numbers. Top 10 lists only include counties with at least 10,000 people.

What’s measured

Limitations

Sources