Kandiyohi County, MN

County Profile

44,079 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Kandiyohi 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.

59out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 41% of 1,225 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity871st of 1,255 counties46
Schools734th of 973 counties30
Growth794th of 1,226 counties42
Housing affordabilityTop 31% of 1,255 counties98
Climate1210th of 1,254 counties51
Physical resilienceTop 6% of 1,255 counties92
Access1197th of 1,255 counties40
Economic stabilityTop 29% of 1,255 counties76
The quick read

Unemployment is 5.2% and median household income $76,592, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.

In the public schools here, 42% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.0 students for every teacher.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published profiles, placing Kandiyohi County in the top 6% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
44,079
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$76,592
Top 23% nationally
Density
55/sq mi
797.4 sq mi of land
Median age
40.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Kandiyohi County
Minnesota
Metro area
Willmar, MN
Nearest major airport
MSP
89 mi · Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-Chamberlain
Median home value
$243,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.2% is lower than 17% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 1.7% over the past year, to 22,013 employed residents.

28% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 71% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$2,794$76,592Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,348$38,860Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate9.1%Bottom 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.5 minBottom 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher27.9%Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment22,013Bottom 27%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.2%Top 39%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.7%Bottom 26%June 2026
Labor force23,221Bottom 28%June 2026
Labor force participation65.8%Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.8%Top 14%June 2026
Unemployment rate5.2%Top 17%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.71.9
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.2% 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
202120222023202477k68k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $76,592 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.

42% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 42% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.0 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
20
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
41.9%
Bottom 19% in Minnesota
Reading proficiency
42.1%
Bottom 14% in Minnesota
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Willmar Senior HighWillmar Public School District1,20516.3
Willmar Middle SchoolWillmar Public School District84213.837%42%
Kennedy ElementaryWillmar Public School District67212.235%30%
Lakeland Elementary SchoolWillmar Public School District62313.531%34%
Roosevelt ElementaryWillmar Public School District58012.632%34%
PRAIRIE WOODS ELEMENTARYNEW LONDON-SPICER SCHOOL DISTRICT57813.465%52%
NEW LONDON-SPICER MIDDLENEW LONDON-SPICER SCHOOL DISTRICT45413.450%66%
NEW LONDON-SPICER SR.NEW LONDON-SPICER SCHOOL DISTRICT44814.9
A.C.G.C. ELEMENTARYA.C.G.C. Public School District36911.554%44%
Willmar Area Learning CenterWillmar Public School District917.6
Jefferson Learning CenterWillmar Public School District896.8
DREAM Technical Academy · charterTECHNICAL ACADEMIES OF MINNESOTA7224.0

54.3% 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 $909 takes 14% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.2 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
14.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$909
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$243,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.18Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate72.5%Bottom 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±13520,337Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$47$909Top 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$7,920$243,200Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income14.2%Bottom 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate13.4%Bottom 46%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 →
Development Momentum
42/ 100
Ranks 794 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 2 consecutive years, 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 2% since 2020, reaching 44,674 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 1.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
77
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.7
Bottom 30% nationally
Year over year
+7%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202445k44k
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
202220232024202521967
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−62%).

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 3°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 28.7 inches, including 46.1 inches of snow.

-10°10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station WILLMAR WWTP, 3.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation28.7"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall46.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low3°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°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

92 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Strong windElevated
HailModerate
TornadoModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, winter weather, drought, ice storm, landslide, inland flooding, wildfire, lightning, 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.

Kandiyohi County records 2.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Drug overdose deaths run at 7.0 per 100,000 residents in Kandiyohi County.

Homicide
2.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
7.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
22.8
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 Kandiyohi 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 Kandiyohi County rather than Kandiyohi 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
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 89 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-ChamberlainMSP89 mi11,006 ft
Joe Foss FldFSD138 mi9,000 ft
Hector IntlFAR150 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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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.

Cities in Kandiyohi County, MN