Winona County, MN

County Profile

49,779 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Winona 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.

56out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 27% of 1,225 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity934th of 1,255 counties42
Schools713th of 973 counties32
Growth818th of 1,226 counties41
Housing affordabilityTop 38% of 1,255 counties96
Climate1101st of 1,254 counties56
Physical resilience668th of 1,255 counties59
AccessTop 35% of 1,255 counties87
Economic stabilityTop 37% of 1,255 counties70
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published profiles: unemployment is 4.3% and the Opportunity signal places Winona County in the bottom 26%.

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

Rent takes 15% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.3 times that income.

At a glance

Population
49,779
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$70,744
Top 35% nationally
Density
79/sq mi
626.2 sq mi of land
Median age
36.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Winona County
Minnesota
Metro area
Winona, MN
Nearest major airport
LSE
27 mi · La Crosse Rgnl
Median home value
$235,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.3% is lower than 46% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 3.3% over the past year, to 26,984 employed residents.

33% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 82% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,222$70,744Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,664$38,508Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate14.8%Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute19.2 minBottom 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher32.7%Top 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment26,984Bottom 35%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-2.8%Bottom 16%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-3.3%Bottom 6%June 2026
Labor force28,203Bottom 35%June 2026
Labor force participation68.4%Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.7%Top 18%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.3%Top 46%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/064.31.5
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.3% 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
202120222023202471k62k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $70,744 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 44% 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
19
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
42.3%
Bottom 22% in Minnesota
Reading proficiency
43.8%
Bottom 17% in Minnesota
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
WINONA SENIOR HIGHWINONA AREA PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT84918.1
WINONA MIDDLEWINONA AREA PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT66514.128%39%
ST. CHARLES SECONDARYST. CHARLES PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT47917.127%42%
ST. CHARLES ELEMENTARYST. CHARLES PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT45713.850%50%
Lewiston-Altura SecondaryLewiston-Altura Public School Dist33710.915%35%
JEFFERSON ELEMENTARYWINONA AREA PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT32212.446%40%
Lewiston-Altura ElementaryLewiston-Altura Public School Dist2548.869%48%
WASHINGTON-KOSCIUSKO ELEMENTARYWINONA AREA PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT23110.560%45%
GOODVIEW ELEMENTARYWINONA AREA PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT20914.965%40%
BLUFFVIEW MONTESSORI · charterBLUFFVIEW MONTESSORI2097.059%65%
RIDGEWAY COMMUNITY SCHOOL · charterRIDGEWAY COMMUNITY SCHOOL979.770%50%
WINONA AREA LEARNING CENTERWINONA AREA PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT9215.3

39.7% 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 $907 takes 15% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.3 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
15.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$907
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$235,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.33Top 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate69.5%Bottom 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4821,855Top 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$39$907Top 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$5,774$235,400Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income15.4%Bottom 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.3%Bottom 16%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
41/ 100
Ranks 818 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 1% since 2020, reaching 49,973 in 2024.

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

At 1.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
62
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.2
Bottom 20% nationally
Year over year
+107%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
22.6%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202450k50k
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
202220232024202511837
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−21%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 85°F and January a low of 11°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 35.2 inches, including 46.3 inches of snow.

0°20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station LA CROSSE MUNI AP, 27.0 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation35.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall46.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low11°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high85°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing56°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

59 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HailModerate
Inland floodingElevated
TornadoElevated
LightningModerate
Strong windModerate

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, cold wave, winter weather, heat wave, drought, 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.

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.

Winona 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 7.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 13.3 per 100,000 residents in Winona County.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
7.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
13.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
15.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

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 Winona 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 Winona County rather than Winona 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

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 27 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
La Crosse RgnlLSE27 mi8,742 ft
Rochester IntlRST36 mi9,034 ft
Chippewa Valley RgnlEAU63 mi8,101 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.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
56
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

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 Winona County, MN