Community Info

Welcome to Vadnais Heights!

The City of Vadnais Heights is a vibrant community with strong neighborhoods, thriving businesses, beautiful woods, lakes, wetlands, and trails. Called “home” by approximately 13,000 people, Vadnais Heights is located in northeast Ramsey County, covers approximately 8.5 square miles, and is just minutes away from downtown Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

In 2007, Money Magazine voted Vadnais Heights the 36th “Best Place to Live.” While its natural setting is appealing, the availability of services and easy freeway access to the entire metro area and northern Minnesota make Vadnais Heights a great place to live, work, and play. The major roadways serving Vadnais Heights include I-35E, I-694, U.S. Highway 61, and County Highways 96 and 49. Medical facilities are readily available with Health East/St. John’s Hospital only two miles away in Maplewood.

A City in Balance…and a Destination

Vadnais Heights has a wide range of housing: executive housing, starter homes, attached residences, and an active-senior living community. The City provides its citizens equal parts of prosperity, serenity, and comfort; well-maintained parks and a growing network of trails offer recreational enjoyment. Citizens and businesses are provided quality services at reasonable costs. Vadnais Heights’ property tax rate is one of the lowest in the metro area, and a fire insurance rating of class 3 indicates the City delivers quality service at a fair cost. Vadnais Heights offers a complete array of municipal services, including: utilities, animal control, law enforcement (through a contract with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department), fire, emergency medical and rescue services, and Allina Hospitals and Clinics ambulance services.

Vadnais Heights is part of two highly-rated school districts — White Bear Lake District 624 and Mounds View District 621. In addition, the Agricultural and Food Sciences Academy (AFSA), a public charter high school, is located in the City. Century College, the largest community college in Minnesota, is conveniently located nearly three miles away in White Bear Lake.

The City’s commercial tax base is robust. Its business sector is corporate headquarters for H.B. Fuller, Short Elliott Hendrickson (SEH), and Knowlan’s (Festival Foods) Grocery Stores. Target, Wal-Mart, and eight auto dealerships have also “set up shop” within the City of Vadnais Heights. The recent medical additions of Summit Orthopedics and Allina Medical Clinic complement the area’s well-established healthcare opportunities. Additionally, the City also has a growing retail-service sector composed of shops, restaurants and other amenities. The City continues to see reinvestment in the retail/restaurant market of Vadnais Heights with a new Jersey Mike’s, Noodles & Company, Jimmy John’s and Fresh Thyme Farmer’s Market.  We are very excited about the future of our community!

In August 2010, the City opened the state-of-the-art North Service Center; it houses a public works garage, fire station, and a 10,000-square-foot community facility named Vadnais Heights Commons. The award-winning Commons is well utilized for community events, including Taste of Vadnais and Heritage Days. Also, it serves as an elegant venue for private weddings, graduation parties, birthday parties, and other family or business functions … for residents and non-residents alike.

Vadnais Sports Center also opened in 2010; it features two NHL regulation-size hockey rinks and a 100,000-square-foot sports dome. A wide range of ice and turf programs and activities are offered through community programming partners. Vadnais Sports Center – owned and operated by Ramsey County Parks & Recreation – is home to the White Bear Lake Girls and Boys hockey teams and the Mounds View Boys hockey team.

Vadnais Heights has long been a great place to live. Today, the City – home to a variety of restaurants, Fairfield Inn, Country Inn and Suites, and Holiday Inn, as well as easy access to the Twin Cities and Minneapolis/St. Paul airport – has evolved into “a destination.”