MN Town Among Money’s 50 Best Places To Live

MINNESOTA — Northfield is among the 50 Best Places to Live in America, according to a recent report from Money.

Money said the 50 places on the list, released earlier this month, offer affordability, good schools and strong job markets, and are places with “a palpable spirit, nurtured and sustained by engaged citizens and receptive public officials.”

NEW: 1 MN City Makes ‘Best Places To Live ’ List, U.S. News Says

Of Northfield, Money said:

In 1876, a gang of eight men rode their horses into a small town in Minnesota, intent on robbing the First National Bank of Northfield. But instead of walking away rich, they were defeated by local citizens in a historic event that’s celebrated every year with a weekend festival here in Northfield.

Less than an hour's drive from the Twin Cities, Northfield is the perfect place to settle down if you’re in the market for a picturesque small town with access to a major metro. It’s home to Carleton College and St. Olaf College — two highly-ranked universities that recently made it to Money’s list of best colleges — and it’s chock-full of city parks, golf courses and scenic trails. For many residents, a typical summer day consists of a kayak trip along the Cannon River, which flows directly through town, or a lazy bike ride around Northfield’s historic downtown. In the cold Minnesota winter, cross-country skiing through Carleton’s Cowling Arboretum and the many meandering paths kept clean by Northfield’s three snowmobile clubs keep locals plenty busy.

Despite all it has to offer, Northfield is still a relatively affordable place to buy a home. The small city even made headlines last year thanks to a $5.5 million affordable housing project lauded for challenging the idea that energy efficiency has to come at a high cost.

In a departure from previous years, Money did not rank the places but instead grouped them into five categories highlighting their strengths: suburbs with soul, best-kept secrets, new boomtowns, not just college towns, and culture hubs.

Collectively, the cities and towns on the list are a “blueprint for the future,” Money said.

The report is based on data on such things as the health of the job market, average housing costs, the percentage of residents living in poverty and the quality of public schools, as well as reader polls. But, the editors acknowledged, things that make a town or a city worth living in can’t always be quantified.

To expand the report, Money also considered a breadth of research from public policy and advocacy groups, such as the American Planning Association, Brookings, Main Street America and the Project for Public Spaces, supplemented by data from Moody’s Analytics, SchoolDigger, Realtor.com, the St. Louis Federal Reserve, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and others.