Richfield, Minnesota

Area Profile

36,642 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Richfield, in Hennepin County.

62out of 100
Area Score
Top 45% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2431st of 3,904 published cities50
Schools2045th of 2,668 published cities31
Growth2041st of 2,973 published cities40
Housing affordabilityTop 43% of 4,223 published cities85
Climate3991st of 4,223 published cities55
Physical resilienceTop 7% of 4,182 published cities93
AccessTop 29% of 4,226 published cities97
Economic stabilityTop 23% of 4,226 published cities73
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.0% and median household income $85,132, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Richfield in the top 7% for physical resilience.

A major airport is 3 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
36,642
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$85,132
Top 29% nationally
Density
5,406/sq mi
6.8 sq mi of land
Median age
39.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Hennepin County
Minnesota
Metro area
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
Nearest major airport
MSP
3 mi · Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-Chamberlain
Median home value
$344,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.0% is lower than 62% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 2.1% over the past year, to 19,972 employed residents.

44% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 84% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,429$85,132Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,979$47,856Top 20%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate8.2%Bottom 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute24.5 minBottom 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher43.7%Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment19,972Bottom 25%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-3.0%Bottom 11%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.1%Bottom 16%June 2026
Labor force20,799Bottom 25%June 2026
Labor force participation69.9%Top 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$74,580Top 30%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$59,320Top 23%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.6%Top 23%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.0%Bottom 38%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/064.51.9
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.0% 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
202120222023202485k74k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $85,132 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.
Largest occupations — Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides93,560$38,860
Retail Salespersons51,180$36,670
General and Operations Managers44,890$103,570
Registered Nurses43,600$103,040
Customer Service Representatives38,630$49,480
Fast Food and Counter Workers37,920$33,040

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.

31% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 38% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.0 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
22
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
31.3%
Bottom 15% in Minnesota
Reading proficiency
38.0%
Bottom 17% in Minnesota
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
RICHFIELD SENIOR HIGHRICHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT1,18314.1
RICHFIELD MIDDLERICHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT80811.927%37%
RICHFIELD STEM SCHOOLRICHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT60410.837%36%
RICHFIELD DUAL LANGUAGE SCHOOLRICHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT52914.731%35%
PARTNERSHIP ACADEMY INC. · charterPARTNERSHIP ACADEMY INC.51512.0
SHERIDAN HILLS ELEMENTARYRICHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT40613.142%38%
SciTech Academy Charter School · charterSciTech Academy Charter School34213.710%10%
Seven Hills - Richfield Middle · charterSeven Hills Preparatory Academy3139.237%67%
CENTENNIAL ELEMENTARYRICHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT3038.915%22%
Seven Hills - Richfield Elementary · charterSeven Hills Preparatory Academy3039.251%68%
Horizon Science Academy Twin Cities · charterHorizon Science Academy Twin Cities17142.8
CENTRAL EDUCATION CENTERRICHFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT867.8

59.0% 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 $1,393 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.0 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
19.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,393
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$344,000
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.04Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate61.6%Bottom 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±47117,183Top 3%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$43$1,393Top 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$4,212$344,000Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.6%Top 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate3.7%Bottom 22%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
40/ 100
Ranks 2041 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, measured from 2020 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 fallen 1% since 2020, reaching 36,491 in 2024.

95% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

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

Units permitted
44
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.2
Bottom 35% nationally
Year over year
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
95.5%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202437k36k
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
2020202120222023202420254660.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−80%).

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, 2.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation31.6"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall51.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low9°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high83°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing58°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

93 / 100
Physical resilience

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

TornadoModerate
HailElevated
Strong windModerate

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

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.

Crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source 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. Reported crime is also easy to misread: agency participation varies year to year, and a city that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate.
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

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 3 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-ChamberlainMSP3 mi11,006 ft
Rochester IntlRST77 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
62
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Other cities in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
MinneapolisHennepin County427,24659vs Richfield
St. PaulRamsey County307,28458vs Richfield
BloomingtonHennepin County88,66558vs Richfield
Brooklyn ParkHennepin County83,87658vs Richfield
PlymouthHennepin County79,22073vs Richfield
WoodburyWashington County78,30570vs Richfield
LakevilleDakota County74,35475vs Richfield
BlaineAnoka County72,48860vs Richfield
Maple GroveHennepin County71,17369vs Richfield
EaganDakota County68,00068vs Richfield
BurnsvilleDakota County64,46359vs Richfield
Coon RapidsAnoka County63,46855vs Richfield

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

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
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
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)
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.

ZIP codes in Richfield

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
5542336,724$85,18263