?WhereToHQ

Ranked · Buying a home · Minnesota

Best cities for buying a home in Minnesota

Cities of 25,000+ residents, scored with the “Buying a home” weighting the live tool uses, heaviest on median home price, property tax rate, home price yoy, cost of living index. Scores are relative to this set; open the tool to change the weights and re-rank.

Re-rank for your priorities
Top 10 · computed ranking

  1. 1.Moorhead, MN45k residents

    72/100

    median home price: $249,000 · property tax rate: 1.05% · home price yoy: +2.2%

  2. 2.Owatonna, MN26k residents

    71/100

    median home price: $245,200 · property tax rate: 1.05% · home price yoy: +2.9%

  3. 3.Brooklyn Center, MN32k residents

    70/100

    median home price: $274,300 · property tax rate: 1.05% · home price yoy: +1.3%

  4. 4.Rosemount, MN28k residents

    70/100

    median home price: $424,100 · property tax rate: 1.05% · home price yoy: +0.4%

  5. 5.Winona, MN26k residents

    70/100

    median home price: $201,800 · property tax rate: 1.05% · home price yoy: +3.4%

  6. 6.Maplewood, MN41k residents

    69/100

    median home price: $323,200 · property tax rate: 1.05% · home price yoy: +1.7%

  7. 7.Elk River, MN27k residents

    69/100

    median home price: $370,100 · property tax rate: 1.05% · home price yoy: +2.1%

  8. 8.Austin, MN26k residents

    69/100

    median home price: $163,900 · property tax rate: 1.05% · home price yoy: +5.7%

  9. 9.Brooklyn Park, MN84k residents

    68/100

    median home price: $336,200 · property tax rate: 1.05% · home price yoy: +1.4%

  10. 10.Lakeville, MN74k residents

    68/100

    median home price: $452,500 · property tax rate: 1.05% · home price yoy: +0.8%

Methodology: each city is scored 0–100 by min–max normalizing every weighted facet across this candidate set (direction-aware), identical math to the tool's “Best fit” tab. A different weighting produces a different order, which is the point: this is a starting shortlist, not a verdict.

Questions & answers
Which city is best for buying a home in Minnesota?
Moorhead, MN ranks first with a fit score of 72/100, followed by Owatonna (71) and Brooklyn Center (70), using the "Buying a home" weighting.
How is this ranking calculated?
Each of the 10 candidate cities (25,000+ residents) is scored 0 to 100 by min-max normalizing the weighted facets, heaviest on median home price, property tax rate, home price yoy, cost of living index, across this set. Change the weights in the live tool and the order changes with them.