56308 — Alexandria, Minnesota
Area Profile
Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 56308.
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
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.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$4,395 | $78,177 | Top 40%of 31,295 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$2,216 | $45,025 | Top 27%of 32,822 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 8.7% | Bottom 40%of 32,970 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 19.4 min | Bottom 11%of 32,887 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 34.0% | Top 28%of 33,193 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 21,009 | Bottom 20%of 6,544 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | -1.2% | Bottom 29%of 6,542 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -2.5% | Bottom 13%of 6,544 | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 21,898 | Bottom 20%of 6,544 | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 62.3% | Top 44%of 33,252 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | 0.8% | Top 15%of 6,544 | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 4.1% | Bottom 35%of 6,544 | June 2026 |
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.
Schools
How it’s calculated →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.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexandria Area High School | Alexandria Public School District | 1,315 | 18.0 | — | — |
| Discovery Middle School | Alexandria Public School District | 898 | 16.0 | 57% | 52% |
| Lincoln Elementary | Alexandria Public School District | 481 | 15.5 | 65% | 58% |
| Voyager Elementary | Alexandria Public School District | 446 | 13.1 | 57% | 45% |
| Woodland Elementary School | Alexandria Public School District | 410 | 11.4 | 59% | 52% |
| Kalon Prep Academy · charter | Kalon Prep Academy | 141 | 12.8 | — | — |
| Early Education Center | Alexandria Public School District | 114 | 16.3 | — | — |
| Runestone Alternative School | Runestone Area Education District | 22 | 22.0 | — | — |
| Lakes Country Academy - ALEX | REGION 4-LAKES COUNTRY SERVICE COOP | 7 | 2.3 | — | — |
| MIDDLE LEVEL LEARNING CENTER | Runestone Area Education District | 0 | — | — | — |
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.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 4.37 | Top 23%of 30,404 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 72.6% | Bottom 35%of 32,910 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±278 | 14,647 | Top 9%of 33,772 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$77 | $956 | Bottom 44%of 26,618 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$11,480 | $341,900 | Top 27%of 30,941 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 14.7% | Bottom 28%of 26,470 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 17.6% | Top 31%of 33,028 | 2024 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 →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.
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.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 24.1" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 2°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 80°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 5 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 60°F | 1991-2020 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
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.
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.
Safety
How it’s measured →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.
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.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hector Intl | FAR | 99 mi | 9,001 ft |
| Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-Chamberlain | MSP | 126 mi | 11,006 ft |
| Duluth Intl | DLH | 167 mi | 10,591 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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Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | April, 2025 to March, 2026 | Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years |
| schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school year | Directory 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.
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.