Cost of Living in Saint Paul, MN, United States

RESTAURANTS

There are lots of great restaurants in St.Paul and a relatively good foodie scene.

However, if you want to get food after 10 pm, your options slim down to largely fast food.

The prices are more or less the same as anywhere else in America: a delicious meal in an inexpensive restaurant will cost you around 13.5$.

MARKETS

Indian, East Asian, Latino, African, and middle eastern grocery stores can be found scattered all around the city.

Groceries, in general, are cheap, and there are all the regular supermarkets as in other cities.

Whole Foods is more expensive, as per usual, but it’s still cheaper than eating out all the time.

TRANSPORTATION

While you don’t need a car to live in the urban core, you will likely have one, since the transit system is still based on slow urban bus lines for the most part.

The public transport is expensive at 2.25$ per ride, yet pretty bad with slow bus routes, including very few routes outside of downtown, especially in comparison to Minneapolis.

UTILITIES (MONTHLY)

Utilities are much more expensive than in Minneapolis if you look at the price of all included utilities for an apartment of a larger structure (85m2): for such an apartment, all basic utilities – including electricity, along with heating and cooling, water, gas, and garbage services – costs around 180$.

Internet is pretty pricey though, amounting to almost 70$.

SPORTS & LEISURE

The city has an amazing park system and you can get just about anywhere on a bike path/dedicated bike lane.

The city offers amazing areas to exercise and great air quality like no other city, so you can exercise outdoors for free all the time!

If that’s not your cup of tea, you can pay for a gym, but it is rather expensive: 60$ a month.

CLOTHING & SHOES

The Twin Cities, St. Paul, and Minneapolis have major enclosed shopping malls including the monstrous Mall of America, the nation’s largest shopping and entertainment destination featuring over 520 stores.

Generally speaking, the prices of clothing are reasonable: quality jeans cost around 40$ and quality sneakers around 87$.

RENT PER MONTH

St. Paul is pretty pricey when it comes to rent.

It depends on what you want but generally, a smaller apartment in the city center will cost you around 1300$, while a larger apartment in the same area moves from 2250$ and up.

If you want a cheaper apartment, you’ll have to move further away from the center, where the price drops to around 1000$.