?WhereToHQ

Ranked · Pick an HQ · Minnesota

Best cities to put your HQ in Minnesota

Cities of 25,000+ residents, scored with the “Pick an HQ” weighting the live tool uses, heaviest on bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax. 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

    62/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 41.6% · avg. weekly wage: $1,087/wk · corporate income tax: 9.8%

  2. 2.St. Paul, MN307k residents

    59/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 43.8% · avg. weekly wage: $1,218/wk · corporate income tax: 9.8%

  3. 3.Minneapolis, MN427k residents

    57/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 55.5% · avg. weekly wage: $1,777/wk · corporate income tax: 9.8%

  4. 4.Edina, MN53k residents

    57/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 72.7% · avg. weekly wage: $1,480/wk · corporate income tax: 9.8%

  5. 5.Savage, MN33k residents

    57/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 53.7% · avg. weekly wage: $1,270/wk · corporate income tax: 9.8%

  6. 6.Plymouth, MN79k residents

    56/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 65.9% · avg. weekly wage: $1,480/wk · corporate income tax: 9.8%

  7. 7.Prior Lake, MN28k residents

    56/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 52.4% · avg. weekly wage: $1,270/wk · corporate income tax: 9.8%

  8. 8.Shoreview, MN27k residents

    56/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 61.2% · avg. weekly wage: $1,480/wk · corporate income tax: 9.8%

  9. 9.Woodbury, MN78k residents

    55/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 61.3% · avg. weekly wage: $1,480/wk · corporate income tax: 9.8%

  10. 10.Roseville, MN36k residents

    55/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 55% · avg. weekly wage: $1,480/wk · corporate income tax: 9.8%

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 to put your HQ in Minnesota?
Moorhead, MN ranks first with a fit score of 62/100, followed by St. Paul (59) and Minneapolis (57), using the "Pick an HQ" 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 bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax, across this set. Change the weights in the live tool and the order changes with them.