Home to about 35,000 residents, Richfield is a suburb of Minneapolis distinguished by its clean neighborhoods, responsive city government, and friendly community spirit. Pretty parks and civic plantings abound, and wilderness areas like the Wood Lake Nature Center help to connect families to the region’s rural roots. Recreational facilities are plentiful and include a community swimming pool, skate park, and ice skating rink. The local public school system is excellent and homes attractively priced, drawing many families to live here. Major freeways and good public transport connect the community to downtown Minneapolis and surrounding centers; Minneapolis is only about 10 minutes drive away.
Location
Richfield is about 6 miles southwest of downtown Minneapolis in eastern Minnesota.
Geography/Terrain
Richfield is a short drive from Mississippi River to the east and the Chain of Lakes to the west. Covering about 7 square miles and largely flat, the city stands 842 feet above sea level, somewhat higher than Minneapolis.
Distance to 3 closest major cities
Bloomington is just 3.5 miles east of Richfield, and downtown Minneapolis is about 6 miles north. St Paul is about 16 miles east across the Mississippi River.
Jobs
While most Richfield residents commute to Minneapolis to work, many find employment closer to home, primarily in the social (government, education, health, and welfare) and manufacturing sectors. Best Buy, the largest electronics retailer in America, has relocated its headquarters here, and has become a primary regional employer. Richfield is directly west of the Minneapolis/St Paul International Airport and well connected to Minneapolis by surrounding freeways; this infrastructure supports a wide range of local businesses.
Housing
Recent economic revitalization, brought about in large part by the relocation of the Best Buys headquarters to Richfield, has seen the community rise in popularity in recent months. Many new condominium and apartment developments have been built. Despite this, homebuyers will still find a wide range of homes to choose from, and the number of homes on the market helps keep prices down. The local real estate market offers the largest inventory of homes for under $225,000 in the greater Minneapolis region, and the median price of a single family home currently stands at around $226,000.
Parks/Sports/Recreation/Golf
Considered urban planning has made Richfield an attractive suburban community with 21 parks providing 303 acres of recreational land to residents. Ball courts and fields are ample, and the community also has a swimming pool, ice arena (for skating and hockey) and top skate park—shared by Richfield, Edina, and Bloomington. The beautiful Wood Lake Nature Center covers another 150 acres and is a lovely place to visit. Three miles of trails and boardwalks wind through cattail marsh, lowland forest and superbly restored prairie, enabling visitors to get up close to a wide range of indigenous flora and fauna. Professional naturalists are on hand at park’s Interpretive Center to educate visitors further about the plants and animals they are seeing.
Golf enthusiasts will find plenty to keep them happy here; Minneapolis has many fine courses to play. One of the closest is the beautiful Braemar Golf Course in nearby Edina, an extensive facility with an 18 and a 9-hole golf course, sandy bunkers, mature plantings and manicured putting greens. Adventure Gardens in Richfield is a great mini-golf facility.
The nearby Mississippi River to the east and Chain of Lakes to the west provide further opportunities for water sports and recreation, and there are a number of scenic regional parks on the urban outskirts.
Special Attractions/Events
Richfield is an affordable and community minded town with good schools, ample employment and recreational facilities and a family friendly focus. The Mall of America is a short drive away in Bloomington and Richfield has excellent shopping facilities of its own. Proximity to downtown Minneapolis and the nearby international airport provide further draws. Music is big in Richfield, which is home to the Minnesota Valley School of Music and the Homestead Pickin’ Parlor, a superb blues, folk, bluegrass store, and center.
Residents enjoy a wide range of seasonal events in the family friendly community, from a concert series and big Forth of July celebration in summer to the much-loved Richfield Winter Family Fun Day in winter. The city sponsors a half-marathon in August to benefit the Wood Lake Nature Center and a popular mini-golf tourney at Adventure Gardens Miniature Golf raises additional money for charity.
Interesting Facts/Historic Buildings and Places
Originally part of the prairie region that supported the Mdewakanton band of the Dakota (Sioux) Nation, Richfield came into being in the mid-eighteen-fifties as a farming center for the newly arriving white settlers. Richfield locals had their first town meeting on May 11, 1858, the same day that Congress admitted Minnesota into the Union. Named in that same year for the fertile farmlands that surrounded it, Richfield remained a small village until the post-World War II development boom, which saw it expand to become a commuter suburb of nearby Minneapolis. While Richfield still has some charming buildings from its earliest days, it is largely a contemporary community.
- NUMBER1EXPERTS™ 
