56308Alexandria, Minnesota

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 56308.

65out of 100
Area Score
Top 31% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3834th of 6,210 ZIP areas measured49
SchoolsTop 33% of 4,422 ZIP areas measured64
GrowthTop 24% of 5,428 ZIP areas measured65
Housing affordabilityTop 43% of 6,685 ZIP areas measured85
Climate6722nd of 6,789 ZIP areas measured50
Physical resilienceTop 2% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured96
Access6719th of 6,791 ZIP areas measured34
Economic stability4371st of 6,742 ZIP areas measured51
The quick read

Residential permitting has slowed: 177 units authorized over the past twelve months, 30% below the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published ZIP profiles, placing 56308 in the top 2% for physical resilience.

The nearest major airport is 99 miles away, which is farther than most measured US ZIP areas.

At a glance

Population
27,008
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$78,177
Top 40% nationally
Density
168/sq mi
161.2 sq mi of land
Median age
44.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Alexandria
Minnesota
Metro area
Alexandria, MN
Nearest major airport
FAR
99 mi · Hector Intl
Median home value
$341,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.1% is lower than 65% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 2.5% over the past year, to 21,009 employed residents.

34% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 72% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$4,395$78,177Top 40%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,216$45,025Top 27%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate8.7%Bottom 40%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute19.4 minBottom 11%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher34.0%Top 28%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment21,009Bottom 20%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.2%Bottom 29%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.5%Bottom 13%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force21,898Bottom 20%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation62.3%Top 44%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.8%Top 15%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate4.1%Bottom 35%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202478k68k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $78,177 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Alexandria, MN, the city containing this ZIP code.

59% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 52% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.2 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
10
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
59.2%
Top 21% in Minnesota
Reading proficiency
51.9%
Top 49% in Minnesota
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Alexandria Area High SchoolAlexandria Public School District1,31518.0
Discovery Middle SchoolAlexandria Public School District89816.057%52%
Lincoln ElementaryAlexandria Public School District48115.565%58%
Voyager ElementaryAlexandria Public School District44613.157%45%
Woodland Elementary SchoolAlexandria Public School District41011.459%52%
Kalon Prep Academy · charterKalon Prep Academy14112.8
Early Education CenterAlexandria Public School District11416.3
Runestone Alternative SchoolRunestone Area Education District2222.0
Lakes Country Academy - ALEXREGION 4-LAKES COUNTRY SERVICE COOP72.3
MIDDLE LEVEL LEARNING CENTERRunestone Area Education District0

30.0% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Minnesota’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $956 takes 15% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.4 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
14.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.4×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$956
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$341,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.37Top 23%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate72.6%Bottom 35%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±27814,647Top 9%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$77$956Bottom 44%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$11,480$341,900Top 27%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income14.7%Bottom 28%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate17.6%Top 31%of 33,0282024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
65/ 100
Top 24% of 5,428 published city profiles

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.

77% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 12.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
177
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
12.0
Top 8% nationally
Year over year
−30%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
76.8%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Alexandria, MN, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 80°F and January a low of 2°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 24.1 inches.

-10°10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ALEXANDRIA MUNI AP, 0.0 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation24.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low2°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high80°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing60°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

96 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, strong wind and winter weather.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 77% of measured US ZIP areas.

Winter weatherModerate
Strong windModerate
TornadoElevated
LightningModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, landslide, wildfire, inland flooding, hail, ice storm, drought, earthquake.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Douglas County records 0.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 10.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 8.2 per 100,000 residents in Douglas County.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
10.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
8.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
15.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Douglas County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 56308 rather than 56308 itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so 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 and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 99 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Hector IntlFAR99 mi9,001 ft
Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-ChamberlainMSP126 mi11,006 ft
Duluth IntlDLH167 mi10,591 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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Area Score
65
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 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 browse every source.

56308 vs Alexandria

How this ZIP area compares with Alexandria as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

56308
Alexandria
Median household income
$78,177
vs
$61,374
Per capita income
$45,025
vs
$41,095
Population density
168/sq mi
vs
856/sq mi
Median home value
$341,900
vs
$275,300
Median gross rent
$956
vs
$934
Homeownership rate
72.6%
vs
57.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher
34.0%
vs
33.2%
Poverty rate
8.7%
vs
12.0%
Median age
44.3
vs
40.8

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.