Vadnais Heights, Minnesota
Area Profile
12,838 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Vadnais Heights, in Ramsey County.
How this area ranks
Data updated · 15 sourcesEmployment conditions sit below most comparable cities measured: unemployment is 4.7% and the Opportunity signal places Vadnais Heights in the bottom 30%. The unemployment rate is published for Ramsey County, MN, which contains Vadnais Heights, rather than for Vadnais Heights alone.
In the public schools here, 44% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 15.3 students for every teacher. Math proficiency and 1 other measure here are published for Ramsey County, MN, which contains Vadnais Heights, rather than for Vadnais Heights alone.
Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 250 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, against 17 the year before.
These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment across Ramsey County, MN, which contains Vadnais Heights, is 4.7% — higher than in all but 36% of the 4,226 measured US cities.
Employment across Ramsey County, MN, which contains Vadnais Heights, fell 2.1% over the past year, to 276,121 employed residents.
46% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 86% of measured US cities.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Income of new arrivalsRamsey County, MN’s figurefiling years 2022–2023 | $57,149 | 21st percentileof 4,101 | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Income of those who leftRamsey County, MN’s figurefiling years 2022–2023 | $68,982 | 42nd percentileof 4,101 | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Median household income ±$4,5562024 ACS 5-Year | $98,685 | Top 19%of 29,223 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$5,2632024 ACS 5-Year | $57,103 | Top 12%of 31,420 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year | 4.0% | Top 19%of 31,773 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute ±1.9 min2024 ACS 5-Year | 24.9 min | Top 40%of 31,543 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year | 45.9% | Top 14%of 31,919 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Drove alone to work ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year | 70.4% | 29th percentileof 31,433 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| EmploymentRamsey County, MN’s figureJuly 2026 | 276,121 | Top 27%of 4,226 | July 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years)Ramsey County, MN’s figureJuly 2026 | −2.5% | Bottom 19%of 4,226 | July 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year)Ramsey County, MN’s figureJuly 2026 | −2.1% | Bottom 19%of 4,226 | July 2026 |
| Labor forceRamsey County, MN’s figureJuly 2026 | 289,644 | 73rd percentileof 4,226 | July 2026 |
| Labor force participation ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year | 88.2% | Top 14%of 31,513 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wageMinneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS | $74,580 | Top 30%of 3,729 | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wageMinneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS | $59,320 | Top 23%of 3,729 | 2025 OEWS |
| Public transit to work ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year | 0.3% | 77th percentileof 31,433 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year)Ramsey County, MN’s figureJuly 2026 | +0.7% | Bottom 9%of 4,226 | July 2026 |
| Unemployment rateRamsey County, MN’s figureJuly 2026 | 4.7% | Bottom 36%of 4,226 | July 2026 |
| Worked from home ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year | 22.7% | 89th percentileof 31,433 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Median household income, successive ACS releases
Largest occupations — Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 93,560 | $38,860 |
| Retail Salespersons | 51,180 | $36,670 |
| General and Operations Managers | 44,890 | $103,570 |
| Registered Nurses | 43,600 | $103,040 |
| Customer Service Representatives | 38,630 | $49,480 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 37,920 | $33,040 |
Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.
Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Ramsey County, MN, which contains this city.
44% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 50% in reading, across the schools here that reported results. Math proficiency and 1 other measure here are published for Ramsey County, MN, which contains Vadnais Heights, rather than for Vadnais Heights alone.
There are 15.3 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places. The student-teacher ratio is published for Ramsey County, MN, which contains Vadnais Heights, rather than for Vadnais Heights alone.
The proficiency and staffing figures above are for Ramsey County, MN: too few schools in Vadnais Heights reported a usable figure on their own to weight one honestly.
Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Minnesota’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated — housing affordability →Prices for everything a household buys run about 4% above the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 104.3, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area is up 27% over five years, and up 2.6% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.
Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $4,039 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.11% of the median home value.
HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,709, some 17% above the $1,455 tenants already here pay.
At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,709 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $68,400 a year, about 69% of the median household income here of $98,685.
The typical renter household here spends 30% of its income on rent, at the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,455 a month.
A median home at $363,100 costs 3.3 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $109,634, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.
Prices here run about 4% above the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.
Published for the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.
The figures above are measured against Vadnais Heights’s median household income of $98,685, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost of living indexthe Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure2023 | 104.3 | Bottom 36%of 3,700 | 2023 |
| Home price change (1 year)the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2 | +2.6% | 39th percentileof 4,154 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price change (5 years)the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2 | +27.3% | 10th percentileof 4,154 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price change (10 years)the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2 | +72.6% | 17th percentileof 4,154 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price to income ±0.52024 ACS 5-Year | 3.3 | Bottom 28%of 26,815 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year | 79.6% | 57th percentileof 31,717 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±2362024 ACS 5-Year | 5,730 | 90th percentileof 32,177 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Market rent, one bedroomFY2026 | $1,405 | Top 50%of 4,072 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, three bedroomFY2026 | $2,262 | Bottom 47%of 4,072 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, two bedroomFY2026 | $1,709 | Bottom 48%of 4,072 | FY2026 |
| Median gross rent ±$1082024 ACS 5-Year | $1,455 | Bottom 21%of 23,120 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$18,2952024 ACS 5-Year | $363,100 | 79th percentileof 29,111 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median property taxes ±$2582024 ACS 5-Year | $4,039 | 83rd percentileof 26,440 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Owner household income ±$16,0752024 ACS 5-Year | $109,634 | Top 21%of 27,548 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Property tax rate ±0.09%2024 ACS 5-Year | 1.11% | 58th percentileof 20,543 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year | 29.9% | Bottom 41%of 22,950 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Seasonal and second homes ±162024 ACS 5-Year | 0 | 1st percentileof 32,330 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year | 0.0% | 1st percentileof 31,895 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year | 2.1% | 22nd percentileof 31,769 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacant housing units ±742024 ACS 5-Year | 120 | 69th percentileof 32,330 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated — growth →Development Momentum
An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.
Population has grown 1% since 2020, reaching 13,108 in 2024.
Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before: 29 units authorized in 2025, against 13 the year before.
97% of the 250 units permitted over the past twelve months are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.
Federal tax returns show Ramsey County, which contains Vadnais Heights, lost about 1.0% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $57,149, below the $68,982 of households that moved out.
At 19.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.
Population, annual estimates
People moving in and out
Where newcomers came from
- Hennepin County, MN 8,910 people · 30% of arrivals
- Washington County, MN 3,065 people · 10% of arrivals
- Anoka County, MN 2,721 people · 9.1% of arrivals
- Dakota County, MN 2,695 people · 9.0% of arrivals
- St. Croix County, WI 311 people · 1.0% of arrivals
Where people who left went
- Hennepin County, MN 8,655 people · 25% of departures
- Washington County, MN 5,568 people · 16% of departures
- Dakota County, MN 4,071 people · 12% of departures
- Anoka County, MN 3,880 people · 11% of departures
- Chisago County, MN 441 people · 1.3% of departures
Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. This is the figure for Ramsey County, MN. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.
Housing units permitted per year
Weather & climate
5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 83°F and January a low of 9°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 29.2 inches.
Air quality measures a median index of 36, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Precipitation
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| 90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year | 58 | 2024 calendar year |
| Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals | 29.2" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low1991-2020 Normals | 9°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high1991-2020 Normals | 83°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals | 5 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year | 1 | 2024 calendar year |
| Median air quality index2024 calendar year | 36 | 2024 calendar year |
| Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals | 57°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Air quality
A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, cold wave and tornado, with inland flooding alone responsible for 38% of it. Inland flooding and cold wave are independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large those hazards are.
Overall hazard risk is lower than 92% of measured US cities.
Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, heat wave, landslide, inland flooding, winter weather, lightning, ice storm, wildfire, earthquake, drought, avalanche, coastal flooding, tsunami, volcanic activity, hurricane.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.
Ramsey County records 5.2 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.
Firearm deaths of all intents run at 9.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.
Drug overdose deaths run at 29.3 per 100,000 residents in Ramsey County.
Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.
Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around Vadnais Heights (Ramsey County) rather than Vadnais Heights itself. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.
What this profile does not cover
Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.
- Reported crime
- Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. Either no municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — or its department did not report every month of the year. Either way there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
- Taxes
- Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
- Anything about a specific address
- Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.
Access
3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-Chamberlain at 14 miles.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year | 95.4% | Top 23%of 31,588 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Distance to major airportNASR current cycle | 14 mi | Top 41%of 4,226 | NASR current cycle |
| Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle | 3 | Bottom 20%of 4,226 | NASR current cycle |
| No internet access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year | 2.7% | Top 23%of 31,588 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-Chamberlain | MSP | 14 mi | 11,006 ft |
| Chippewa Valley Rgnl | EAU | 78 mi | 8,101 ft |
| Rochester Intl | RST | 84 mi | 9,034 ft |
Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.
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Other cities in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
Same metropolitan area, measured the same way| City | County | Population | Area Score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minneapolis | Hennepin County | 427,246 | 57 | Minneapolis vs Vadnais Heights |
| St. Paul | Ramsey County | 307,284 | 56 | St. Paul vs Vadnais Heights |
| Bloomington | Hennepin County | 88,665 | 56 | Bloomington vs Vadnais Heights |
| Brooklyn Park | Hennepin County | 83,876 | 54 | |
| Plymouth | Hennepin County | 79,220 | 70 | |
| Woodbury | Washington County | 78,305 | 68 | |
| Lakeville | Dakota County | 74,354 | 71 | |
| Blaine | Anoka County | 72,488 | 57 | |
| Maple Grove | Hennepin County | 71,173 | 64 | |
| Eagan | Dakota County | 68,000 | 67 | |
| Burnsville | Dakota County | 64,463 | 57 | |
| Coon Rapids | Anoka County | 63,468 | 51 |
Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.
Similar places
Matched on AreaProfile signals, not geographyCompare
Put Vadnais Heights side by side with a similar place.
Moving to Vadnais Heights from somewhere else?
You get the difference in prices, rent and weather, and the income that would keep pace.
Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) |
| Demographics, Income | Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county) | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Housing | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional price parities and county personal income | 2023 |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | July 2026 |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS |
| Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate |
| Safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026 |
| Schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year |
| Housing | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research Fair Market Rents | FY2026 |
| Climate | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System Daily Air Quality Index by county | 2024 calendar year |
| Housing | U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions) | 2026 Q2 |
| Current conditions | NOAA National Weather Service National Weather Service current conditions | Live observation, read when the page opens |
Profile recalculated October 8, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology, or every source with how often each updates.