The 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Minnesota For 2022

Minnesota is one big Midwestern state with an even bigger heart for families.

That's right, Minnesota is great for families. And HomeSnacks is here to tell you why. We've done the unthinkable, and created a list of the best places for families in Minnesota for 2022. How did we determine Minnesota's most family friendly places? We consulted the US Census on places in The North Star State with more than 10,000 residents. We looked at several factors: crime, education, family friendly activities, and the percent of households that currently have children. We ended up with 74 family friendly Minnesota places that any family would be lucky to call home.

Not only did we discover that Minnesota's family friendly places have a ton of families with young children at home or that there are family friendly amenities like the Mall of America in Bloomington, but the state is great for parents just starting out. It's a known fact that restaurants in Minnesota's family friendly places like Grand Rapids are more likely to have changing tables in their bathrooms, parking spots are bigger, and fellow parents are more concerned with what beer you drink than what prestigious kindergarten your kid is attending. And if you're one of those outdoorsy families, Minnesota is your state! Your family can spend winters skiing Afton Alps in Hastings and summers hiking the Lakewalk Trail in Duluth.

To learn more about our methodology and to see why Minnesota's top ten best places to raise a family are truly the best of the best, read on.

No, it's not a coincidence that most of Minnesota's family friendly places are centered around two of Minnesota's biggest cities: Minneapolis and Rochester. There's more to do in these places and jobs with competitive salaries are plentiful.

So, if you want your family to safely wake up in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, with beautiful wooded forests in their backyard, great schools down the street, and endless, healthy activities at their disposal, HomeSnacks suggests that you look no further than Minnesota's number one place to raise a family, Chaska.

If you want to see how Minnesota's other amazing best places to raise a family faired, take a look at the list below. And if you don't see your favorite there, head to the bottom.

Check out some more reading about Minnesota and the best places for families in the country:

• Best Places To Live In Minnesota
• Cheapest Places To Live In Minnesota
• Best Cities To Raise A Family In America
• Best States To Raise A Family In America

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Methodology: How do you determine which place is best for families in Minnesota anyways?

To give you the places in Minnesota which are best for families, we have to look at a handful of metrics. Of course, we want to measure the type of people who live in each city, and make some assumptions about what's family-friendly and what isn't.

So we researched the internet for a database that contains all that information.

How we crunched the family friendly numbers for the North Star State

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using U.S. Census data produced for the state of Minnesota, we looked at every single city in the state. We paid particular attention to:

• Crime (Both violent and property)
• Quality of local schools
• Distance to a major city without necessarily being in it
• % of households with children
• Family-friendly amenities nearby (museums, libraries and colleges)

We then gave each city a Family Score.

The higher the score, the better the city is for families. We also limited our results to cities with populations over 10,000 people. For Minnesota, that meant a total of 74 cities. You can download the data here.

Summary: The Best Places To Raise A Family In Minnesota

If you're looking for a breakdown of cities in Minnesota ranked by criteria that most would agree make a place a great spot for families, this is an accurate list.

Here's a look at the best cities for singles Minnesota according to the data:

1. Bemidji
2. West St. Paul
3. Roseville

For more Minnesota reading, check out:

• Best Places To Live In Minnesota
• Worst Places To Live In Minnesota
• Best Places To Raise A Family In Minnesota

Where Are The Best Places For Families In Minnesota?