55057 — Northfield, Minnesota

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 55057. Its median home value runs 10% above Northfield as a whole, which is why this ZIP carries a profile of its own.

66out of 100
Area Score
Top 22% of 3,113 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 11 sources
OpportunityTop 38% of 3,116 ZIP areas measured60
SchoolsTop 25% of 3,047 ZIP areas measured70
GrowthTop 35% of 3,124 ZIP areas measured58
Housing affordabilityTop 7% of 3,112 ZIP areas measured84
Climate2,965th of 3,127 ZIP areas measured55
Physical resilienceTop 37% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured68
Access2,159th of 3,127 ZIP areas measured85
Economic stabilityTop 21% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured71
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.5% and median household income $92,622, putting employment conditions in the middle range of ZIP areas measured. The unemployment rate is published for Northfield, MN, which contains 55057, rather than for 55057 alone.

In the public schools here, 65% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 15.5 students for every teacher.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most ZIP areas measured: rent takes 24% of renter income and the median home is 3.3 times what its owners earn.

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

Population
25,650
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$92,622
Top 24% nationally
Density
206/sq mi
124.7 sq mi of land
Median age
32.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Northfield
Minnesota
Nearest major airport
MSP
28 mi · Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-Chamberlain
Median home value
$363,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Northfield, MN, which contains 55057, is 4.5% — higher than in all but 44% of the 3,127 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment across Northfield, MN, which contains 55057, fell 1.2% over the past year, to 34,480 employed residents.

51% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 88% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$9,9182024 ACS 5-Year$92,622Top 24%of 31,0492024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,9442024 ACS 5-Year$39,360Top 41%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year7.1%Top 32%of 32,8462024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.1 min2024 ACS 5-Year21.1 minTop 17%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year50.5%Top 12%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year58.4%12th percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentNorthfield, MN’s figureJuly 202634,480Bottom 38%of 3,127July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Northfield, MN’s figureJuly 2026+1.3%Top 30%of 3,127July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Northfield, MN’s figureJuly 2026−1.2%Bottom 37%of 3,127July 2026
Labor forceNorthfield, MN’s figureJuly 202636,11137th percentileof 3,127July 2026
Labor force participation ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year85.6%Top 18%of 32,8832024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.6%2024 ACS 5-Year0.5%72nd percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Northfield, MN’s figureJuly 2026+0.4%Bottom 24%of 3,127July 2026
Unemployment rateNorthfield, MN’s figureJuly 20264.5%Bottom 44%of 3,127July 2026
Worked from home ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year16.7%77th percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202498k81k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $92,622 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Northfield, MN, the city containing this ZIP code.

65% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 67% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.5 students for every full-time teacher across 9 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
13
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.5
across 9 of them
Math proficiency
64.6%
Top 25% in Minnesota
Reading proficiency
66.8%
Top 25% in Minnesota
The 12 largest of 13 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Northfield Senior HighNORTHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT1,28321.059%63%
Northfield MiddleNORTHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT84519.266%71%
Bridgewater ElementaryNORTHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT56414.174%71%
Greenvale Park ElementaryNORTHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT48811.959%56%
Spring Creek ElementaryNORTHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT44512.070%73%
Prairie Creek Community School · charterPRAIRIE CREEK COMMUNITY SCHOOL18012.072%72%
Northfield Community Education CntrNORTHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT1177.3——
Arcadia Charter School · charterARCADIA CHARTER SCHOOL11612.962%72%
Northfield Area Learning CenterNORTHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT10721.4——
School Readiness PlusNORTHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT0———
Big 9 Online ElementaryNORTHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT0———
Big 9 Online Middle SchoolNORTHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT0———

28.7% 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.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of Minnesota is up 43% over five years, and up 3.8% 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 $4,354 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.20% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,187, close to the $1,113 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,187 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $47,500 a year, about 51% of the median household income here of $92,622.

The typical renter household here spends 24% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,113 a month.

A median home at $363,600 costs 3.3 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $111,373, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

Rent as a share of income
23.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.3×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,187
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,113
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$363,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against 55057’s median household income of $92,622, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Minnesota’s figure2026 Q2+3.8%65th percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Minnesota’s figure2026 Q2+42.5%46th percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Minnesota’s figure2026 Q2+88.5%40th percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.32024 ACS 5-Year3.3Bottom 32%of 29,2752024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year74.3%38th percentileof 32,7502024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2992024 ACS 5-Year8,60481st percentileof 33,4602024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$905Top 19%of 3,031FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,534Top 25%of 3,031FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,187Top 26%of 3,031FY2026
Median gross rent ±$792024 ACS 5-Year$1,113Bottom 41%of 26,3962024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$16,9262024 ACS 5-Year$363,60076th percentileof 30,8122024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1932024 ACS 5-Year$4,35484th percentileof 28,9352024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$6,8402024 ACS 5-Year$111,373Top 21%of 29,8022024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.08%2024 ACS 5-Year1.20%69th percentileof 24,0992024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year23.8%Top 27%of 26,2472024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±302024 ACS 5-Year4762nd percentileof 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.5%42nd percentileof 32,9612024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year5.2%38th percentileof 32,7882024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±1662024 ACS 5-Year49173rd percentileof 33,7722024 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.

Development Momentum

58/ 100
Top 35% of 3,124 published ZIP profiles

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.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 28 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes. The multifamily share is published for Northfield, MN, which contains 55057, rather than for 55057 alone.

At 1.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas. The permit rate is published for Northfield, MN, which contains 55057, rather than for 55057 alone.

Units permitted
28
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.3
Bottom 28% nationally
Year over year
+133%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Northfield, MN, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 83°F and January a low of 9°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 31.6 inches, including 51.2 inches of snow.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station MINNEAPOLIS/ST PAUL AP, 28.5 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals31.6"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals51.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals9°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals83°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals58°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

68 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and strong wind, with inland flooding alone responsible for 50% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

Strong windHigh
HailElevated
TornadoElevated
Heat waveModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, inland flooding, winter weather, landslide, ice storm, drought, wildfire, earthquake, coastal flooding, volcanic activity, avalanche, tsunami, hurricane.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. 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.

Homicide
1.9
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
7.6
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
8.7
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
12.3
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured

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 the county around 55057 (Rice County) rather than 55057 itself. 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. A ZIP area is not a jurisdiction, so no department reports for one. Northfield carries the figure where its 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.
Cost of living
Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
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. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-Chamberlain at 28 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year93.3%Top 29%of 32,6632024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle28 miBottom 31%of 3,127NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle3Bottom 21%of 3,127NASR current cycle
No internet access ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year3.8%Top 25%of 32,6632024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-ChamberlainMSP28 mi11,006 ft
Rochester IntlRST52 mi9,034 ft
Chippewa Valley RgnlEAU88 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.

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Area Score
66
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
SafetyU.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
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA 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.

55057 vs Northfield

How this ZIP area compares with Northfield as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like — a gap here is a real difference between the two places, not two surveys disagreeing.

55057
Northfield
Median household income: 55057 is the more favorable of the two.
Median household income
$92,622
vs
$84,895
Per capita income: 55057 is the more favorable of the two.
Per capita income
$39,360
vs
$36,703
Population density
206/sq mi
vs
2,428/sq mi
Median home value
$363,600
vs
$329,400
Median gross rent: Northfield is the more favorable of the two.
Median gross rent
$1,113
vs
$1,103
Homeownership rate
74.3%
vs
69.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher: Northfield is the more favorable of the two.
Bachelor's degree or higher
50.5%
vs
53.3%
Poverty rate: 55057 is the more favorable of the two.
Poverty rate
7.1%
vs
7.4%
Median age
32.2
vs
28.2

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.