Isanti County, MN
County Profile
42,596 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Isanti 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.
How this area ranks
Data updated · 13 sourcesEmployment conditions sit below most comparable counties measured: unemployment is 5.5% and the Opportunity signal places Isanti County in the bottom 14%.
In the public schools here, 53% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 16.7 students for every teacher.
Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 483 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 112% on the prior year.
These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 5.5% — higher than in all but 12% of the 1,467 measured US counties.
Employment fell 2.1% over the past year, to 22,066 employed residents.
Median household income of $87,440 is higher than in 89% of measured US counties.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023 | $61,894 | 58th percentileof 1,417 | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023 | $58,603 | 53rd percentileof 1,417 | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Median household income ±$4,1402024 ACS 5-Year | $87,440 | Top 11%of 3,221 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$1,0762024 ACS 5-Year | $39,737 | Top 26%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per-capita personal income2023 | $54,352 | Bottom 44%of 1,389 | 2023 |
| Poverty rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year | 7.6% | Top 11%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute ±1.1 min2024 ACS 5-Year | 33.6 min | Bottom 10%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year | 20.7% | Bottom 42%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Drove alone to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year | 76.4% | 42nd percentileof 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| EmploymentJuly 2026 | 22,066 | Bottom 35%of 1,467 | July 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years)July 2026 | −1.9% | Bottom 27%of 1,467 | July 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year)July 2026 | −2.1% | Bottom 19%of 1,467 | July 2026 |
| Labor forceJuly 2026 | 23,355 | 35th percentileof 1,467 | July 2026 |
| Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year | 83.2% | Top 13%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Public transit to work ±0.4%2024 ACS 5-Year | 0.7% | 78th percentileof 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026 | +0.8% | Bottom 7%of 1,467 | July 2026 |
| Unemployment rateJuly 2026 | 5.5% | Bottom 12%of 1,467 | July 2026 |
| Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year | 12.2% | 76th percentileof 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Unemployment rate
Median household income, successive ACS releases
Largest occupations — Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 93,560 | $38,860 |
| Retail Salespersons | 51,180 | $36,670 |
| General and Operations Managers | 44,890 | $103,570 |
| Registered Nurses | 43,600 | $103,040 |
| Customer Service Representatives | 38,630 | $49,480 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 37,920 | $33,040 |
Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.
Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
53% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 61% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 16.7 students for every full-time teacher across 15 public schools, more than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge-Isanti High School | Cambridge-Isanti Public School Dist | 1,582 | 21.4 | 35% | 59% |
| Cambridge Middle School | Cambridge-Isanti Public School Dist | 607 | 17.3 | 62% | 72% |
| Cambridge Intermediate School | Cambridge-Isanti Public School Dist | 536 | 16.8 | 67% | 61% |
| Cambridge Primary School | Cambridge-Isanti Public School Dist | 498 | 15.1 | — | — |
| Isanti Middle School | Cambridge-Isanti Public School Dist | 449 | 14.5 | 59% | 63% |
| Braham Elementary | BRAHAM PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT | 429 | 14.8 | 68% | 64% |
| Isanti Intermediate School | Cambridge-Isanti Public School Dist | 422 | 15.6 | 68% | 57% |
| Isanti Primary School | Cambridge-Isanti Public School Dist | 407 | 13.1 | — | — |
| Braham Area Secondary | BRAHAM PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT | 354 | 20.8 | 47% | 52% |
| Art and Science Academy · charter | Art and Science Academy | 171 | 15.5 | 72% | 57% |
| Cambridge-Isanti STEAM School | Cambridge-Isanti Public School Dist | 139 | 17.4 | 47% | 47% |
| Art & Science Academy Middle School · charter | Art and Science Academy | 125 | 10.4 | 52% | 67% |
35.4% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.
Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Minnesota’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated — housing affordability →Prices for everything a household buys run about 4% above the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 104.3, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area is up 27% over five years, and up 2.6% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.
Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $3,081 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.01% of the median home value.
HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,709, some 34% above the $1,273 tenants already here pay.
At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,709 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $68,400 a year, about 78% of the median household income here of $87,440.
The typical renter household here spends 30% of its income on rent, at the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,273 a month.
A median home at $306,200 costs 3.1 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $98,688, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.
Prices here run about 4% above the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.
Published for the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.
The figures above are measured against Isanti County’s median household income of $87,440, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost of living indexthe Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure2023 | 104.3 | Bottom 15%of 887 | 2023 |
| Home price change (1 year)the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2 | +2.6% | 27th percentileof 1,431 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price change (5 years)the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2 | +27.3% | 6th percentileof 1,431 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price change (10 years)the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2 | +72.6% | 18th percentileof 1,431 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year | 3.1 | Bottom 26%of 3,217 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year | 83.7% | 94th percentileof 3,221 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±572024 ACS 5-Year | 17,268 | 60th percentileof 3,221 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Market rent, one bedroomFY2026 | $1,405 | Bottom 18%of 1,423 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, three bedroomFY2026 | $2,262 | Bottom 14%of 1,423 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, two bedroomFY2026 | $1,709 | Bottom 17%of 1,423 | FY2026 |
| Median gross rent ±$632024 ACS 5-Year | $1,273 | Bottom 14%of 3,215 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$8,7802024 ACS 5-Year | $306,200 | 81st percentileof 3,219 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median property taxes ±$942024 ACS 5-Year | $3,081 | 86th percentileof 3,172 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Owner household income ±$3,0342024 ACS 5-Year | $98,688 | Top 15%of 3,218 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Property tax rate ±0.04%2024 ACS 5-Year | 1.01% | 66th percentileof 3,126 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year | 29.9% | Bottom 29%of 3,216 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Seasonal and second homes ±1512024 ACS 5-Year | 477 | 58th percentileof 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year | 2.8% | 51st percentileof 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year | 2.9% | 2nd percentileof 3,221 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacant housing units ±2242024 ACS 5-Year | 975 | 30th percentileof 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated — growth →Development Momentum
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 6% since 2020, reaching 43,687 in 2024.
Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before: 279 units authorized in 2025, up 46% on the prior year.
Population is still rising but the pace is easing: 43,687 residents in 2024, up 1.1% over the year, a smaller gain than the year before.
Federal tax returns show Isanti County gained about 0.7% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $61,894, above the $58,603 of households that moved out.
At 11.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US counties.
Population, annual estimates
People moving in and out
Where newcomers came from
- Anoka County, MN 660 people · 26% of arrivals
- Chisago County, MN 254 people · 10.0% of arrivals
- Hennepin County, MN 218 people · 8.6% of arrivals
- Ramsey County, MN 168 people · 6.6% of arrivals
- Sherburne County, MN 146 people · 5.7% of arrivals
Where people who left went
- Anoka County, MN 381 people · 17% of departures
- Chisago County, MN 266 people · 12% of departures
- Hennepin County, MN 176 people · 7.7% of departures
- Sherburne County, MN 176 people · 7.7% of departures
- Ramsey County, MN 131 people · 5.7% of departures
Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.
Housing units permitted per year
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 4°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 29.7 inches, including 44.1 inches of snow.
Precipitation
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals | 29.7" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals | 44.1" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low1991-2020 Normals | 4°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high1991-2020 Normals | 82°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals | 5 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals | 59°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and cold wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 62% of it. Cold wave is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.
Low or minimal exposure: lightning, heat wave, cold wave, landslide, drought, ice storm, winter weather, earthquake, hurricane, tsunami, volcanic activity, coastal flooding, avalanche.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.
Isanti 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 about 10.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.
Drug overdose deaths run at about 10.8 per 100,000 residents in Isanti County.
Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.
Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Isanti County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.
What this profile does not cover
Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.
- Reported crime
- Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
- Air quality
- The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
- Taxes
- Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
- Anything about a specific address
- Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.
Access
1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-Chamberlain at 47 miles.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broadband access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year | 90.7% | Top 21%of 3,221 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Distance to major airportNASR current cycle | 47 mi | Bottom 34%of 1,463 | NASR current cycle |
| Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle | 1 | Bottom 3%of 1,463 | NASR current cycle |
| No internet access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year | 6.9% | Top 23%of 3,221 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-Chamberlain | MSP | 47 mi | 11,006 ft |
| Chippewa Valley Rgnl | EAU | 100 mi | 8,101 ft |
| Duluth Intl | DLH | 103 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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Similar places
Matched on AreaProfile signals, not geographyData & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) |
| Demographics, Income | Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county) | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Housing, Income | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional price parities and county personal income | 2023 |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | July 2026 |
| Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate |
| Safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026 |
| Schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year |
| Housing | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research Fair Market Rents | FY2026 |
| Housing | U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions) | 2026 Q2 |
| Current conditions | NOAA National Weather Service National Weather Service current conditions | Live observation, read when the page opens |
Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.
Cities in Isanti County, MN
ZIP areas
Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.