Crow Wing County, MN

County Profile

67,686 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Crow Wing 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.

60out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 44% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity990th of 1,255 counties measured40
SchoolsTop 19% of 973 counties measured75
GrowthTop 28% of 1,226 counties measured62
Housing affordability842nd of 1,255 counties measured86
Climate1233rd of 1,254 counties measured49
Physical resilienceTop 35% of 1,255 counties measured71
Access1200th of 1,255 counties measured38
Economic stability824th of 1,255 counties measured52
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published profiles: unemployment is 4.7% and the Opportunity signal places Crow Wing County in the bottom 21%.

589 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 6% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

The nearest major airport is 92 miles away, which is farther than most measured US locations.

At a glance

Population
67,686
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$72,589
Top 31% nationally
Density
68/sq mi
998.4 sq mi of land
Median age
45.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Crow Wing County
Minnesota
Metro area
Brainerd, MN
Nearest major airport
DLH
92 mi · Duluth Intl
Median home value
$306,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.7% is lower than 31% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 3.1% over the past year, to 33,181 employed residents.

29% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 75% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$2,891$72,589Top 31%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,015$41,886Top 20%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate9.9%Bottom 24%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.7 minBottom 35%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher29.3%Top 25%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment33,181Bottom 42%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.4%Bottom 28%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-3.1%Bottom 7%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force34,809Bottom 43%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation59.6%Top 46%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.8%Top 10%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate4.7%Top 31%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/066.91.9
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.7% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202473k61k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $72,589 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.

51% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 58% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
20
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
50.9%
Top 25% in Minnesota
Reading proficiency
57.6%
Top 14% in Minnesota
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
BRAINERD SENIOR HIGHBRAINERD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT1,80520.1
FORESTVIEW MIDDLEBRAINERD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT1,62615.652%64%
PEQUOT LAKES SENIOR HIGHPEQUOT LAKES PUBLIC SCHOOLS59915.4
PEQUOT LAKES MIDDLEPEQUOT LAKES PUBLIC SCHOOLS58120.833%59%
EAGLE VIEW ELEMENTARYPEQUOT LAKES PUBLIC SCHOOLS55712.770%57%
Cuyuna Range ElementaryCrosby-Ironton Public School Dist.53313.748%57%
BAXTER ELEMENTARYBRAINERD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT50615.360%55%
Crosby-Ironton SecondaryCrosby-Ironton Public School Dist.45516.327%47%
RIVERSIDE ELEMENTARYBRAINERD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT40710.457%47%
LOWELL ELEMENTARYBRAINERD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT35514.274%69%
GARFIELD ELEMENTARYBRAINERD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT25012.546%43%
NISSWA ELEMENTARYBRAINERD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT24913.864%63%

39.3% 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 $971 takes 16% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.2 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
16.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$971
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$306,800
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.23Top 17%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate77.0%Top 36%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±7242,683Top 20%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$50$971Top 34%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$9,287$306,800Top 18%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income16.1%Bottom 38%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate31.1%Top 8%of 3,2222024 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
62/ 100
Top 28% of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2022 to 2025.

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 grown 4% since 2020, reaching 68,642 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

At 8.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
589
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
8.7
Top 11% nationally
Year over year
−6%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
24.1%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202469k66k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2022202320242025856420
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+16%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 0°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 24.5 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 38, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

-10°10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BRAINERD CROW WING CO AP, 6.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index55.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation24.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low0°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index38.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing59°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
38
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
55
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

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. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

71 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and lightning.

Inland floodingElevated
LightningModerate
TornadoElevated
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, strong wind, wildfire, hail, landslide, winter weather, ice storm, drought, 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.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Crow Wing 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 13.4 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 11.2 per 100,000 residents in Crow Wing County.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
11.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
23.4
per 100,000 residents

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 Crow Wing 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 Crow Wing County rather than Crow Wing County 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 92 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Duluth IntlDLH92 mi10,591 ft
Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-ChamberlainMSP119 mi11,006 ft
Hector IntlFAR133 mi9,001 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
60
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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
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

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.

Cities in Crow Wing County, MN