Brown County, MN
County Profile
25,800 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Brown County, MN.
Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.
Unemployment is 4.5% and median household income $69,378, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.
Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 149 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 414% on the prior year.
Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published profiles, placing Brown County in the top 16% for physical resilience.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 4.5% is lower than 38% of the 1,255 measured US locations.
Employment fell 1.3% over the past year, to 13,488 employed residents.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$3,150 | $69,378 | Top 39% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$1,052 | $37,653 | Top 36% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 8.5% | Bottom 14% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 16.1 min | Bottom 4% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 24.5% | Top 40% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 13,488 | Bottom 10% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | 0.4% | Top 48% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -1.3% | Bottom 36% | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 14,118 | Bottom 10% | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 65.6% | Top 16% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | 0.6% | Top 20% | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 4.5% | Top 38% | June 2026 |
Schools
How it’s calculated →51% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 51% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 13.6 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NEW ULM HIGH SCHOOL | NEW ULM PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT | 687 | 18.6 | — | — |
| JEFFERSON ELEMENTARY | NEW ULM PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT | 643 | 13.4 | 47% | 40% |
| New Ulm Middle School | NEW ULM PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT | 617 | 15.8 | 40% | 52% |
| SPRINGFIELD ELEMENTARY | SPRINGFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT | 339 | 14.7 | 85% | 64% |
| SLEEPY EYE ELEMENTARY | SLEEPY EYE PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT | 324 | 13.0 | 54% | 48% |
| SPRINGFIELD SECONDARY | SPRINGFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT | 314 | 13.7 | 45% | 45% |
| SLEEPY EYE SEC. | SLEEPY EYE PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT | 238 | 10.8 | 50% | 70% |
| Washington Learning Center | NEW ULM PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT | 180 | 12.0 | — | — |
| RIVER BEND EARLY CHILDHOOD PROG. | RIVER BEND EDUCATION DISTRICT | 90 | 22.5 | — | — |
| COMFREY ELEMENTARY | COMFREY PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT | 57 | 9.5 | — | — |
| COMFREY SECONDARY | COMFREY PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT | 47 | 9.4 | — | — |
| RIVER BEND AREA LEARNING CENTER | RIVER BEND EDUCATION DISTRICT | 43 | 6.1 | — | — |
35.7% 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 $890 takes 15% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 2.8 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 2.76 | Bottom 41% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 78.9% | Top 25% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±44 | 11,827 | Bottom 48% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$72 | $890 | Top 46% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$11,015 | $191,200 | Top 47% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 15.4% | Bottom 31% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 6.8% | Bottom 13% | 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.
Population has fallen 1% since 2020, reaching 25,710 in 2024.
79% 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 5.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US locations.
Weather & climate
5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 84°F and January a low of 6°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 28.0 inches.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 28.0" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 6°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 84°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 5 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 58°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 inland flooding, tornado and strong wind.
Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, drought, landslide, ice storm, wildfire, earthquake.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
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
- The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
- Taxes
- No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
- Full cost of living
- No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. 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.
Access
1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 86 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-Chamberlain | MSP | 86 mi | 11,006 ft |
| Joe Foss Fld | FSD | 110 mi | 9,000 ft |
| Rochester Intl | RST | 113 mi | 9,034 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.