The 10 Worst Small Towns In Minnesota For 2023


We used Saturday Night Science to determine the worst small towns in Minnesota.

By: Nick Johnson | About HomeSnacks
Last Updated: October 14, 2023

Most Americans have never been to small town Minnesota. However, as the Minnesotan who live there know, small town Minnesota is an awesome place to call home.

But is it all roses? Definitely not. Just like any other state, Minnesota has its trouble spots. This article aims to determine, using Saturday Night Science, the absolute worst small towns to live in the North Star State. Don’t freak out, we will use data to show which places have high crime, poverty, and unemployment.

After analyzing more than 206 of Minnesota’s smallest cities, we came up with this list as the 10 worst small towns in Minnesota where you’d never want to live:

These are the worst small towns in Minnesota for 2023:

  1. Redby
  2. Red Lake
  3. Appleton
  4. Keewatin
  5. Sandstone
  6. Winnebago
  7. Crosby
  8. Aurora
  9. Mahnomen
  10. Hinckley

So what is the worst small town to call home in Minnesota for 2023? According to the most recent census data, Redby is the worst small town to live in Minnesota.

While many of these small towns have seen better days, they have wonderful communities and people. This report in no way means to knock the folks that call towns like Redby home. Everyone

Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers, or scroll to the bottom to see how your town ranked.

And if you already know about the small towns, check out the best places to live in Minnesota or the worst places to live in Minnesota.

If you’re looking for something more national, check out the worst cities in America or the worst states in America.

Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table

The 10 Worst Small Towns In Minnesota For 2023

1. Redby

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 1,135
Median Home Value: $71,000 (7th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 23.2% (2nd worst)

2. Red Lake

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 1,526
Median Home Value: $1,000 (1000th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 23.8% (worst)

3. Appleton

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 1,322
Median Home Value: $57,400 (2nd worst)
Unemployment Rate: 5.2% (50th worst)

4. Keewatin

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 1,190
Median Home Value: $60,500 (3rd worst)
Unemployment Rate: 4.3% (72nd worst)

5. Sandstone

Sandstone, MN

Source: Wikipedia User Paul VanDerWerf | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,646
Median Home Value: $95,800 (28th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 9.0% (16th worst)

6. Winnebago

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 1,253
Median Home Value: $76,000 (10th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 6.5% (32nd worst)

7. Crosby

Crosby, MN

Source: Wikipedia User Elkman | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,677
Median Home Value: $105,700 (40th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 7.2% (26th worst)

8. Aurora

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 1,709
Median Home Value: $67,600 (4th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 13.3% (4th worst)

9. Mahnomen

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 1,119
Median Home Value: $75,700 (9th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 11.4% (7th worst)

10. Hinckley

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 1,541
Median Home Value: $134,700 (74th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 10.6% (10th worst)

Methodology: How do you decide if a small place in Minnesota is lousy or not?

To rank the worst small towns to live in Minnesota, we had to determine what criteria people like or dislike about a place. Assuming that people like low crime, solid education, things to do, and a stable economy isn’t a stretch.

We then analyzed the criteria using Saturday Night Science, the thinking you’d use at a bar. It seems like even your crazy Uncle would agree that a town with high crime is worse than a town with low crime; all else the same.

Using FBI crime data and the Census’s 2017-2021 American Community Survey, this is the criteria we used:

  • Population Density (The lower, the worse)
  • Highest Unemployment Rates
  • Low housing costs (meaning there’s no demand)
  • Adjusted Median Income (Median income adjusted for the cost of living)
  • Education (Number of high school dropouts)
  • High Crime

We looked at cities with populations between 1,000 and 5,000 people, of which there were many – 206 to be exact.

We get the crime numbers from the FBI, which gets them from the cities. Dropout numbers are based on the adult population, not just the current graduation rates of teenagers.

We base all our research on facts, which is meant as infotainment. We updated this article for 2023, which is our tenth time ranking the worst small places to live in Minnesota.

There You Have It – The Worst Small Towns In Minnesota

If you’re analyzing teeny places in the North Star State with the worst economic situations, where there’s high crime and there’s not a lot to do, this is an accurate list.

If you’re curious enough, here are the best small towns to live in Minnesota, according to science:

  1. Lonsdale (Pop. 4,608)
  2. Birchwood Village (Pop. 1,082)
  3. Deephaven (Pop. 3,878)

For more Minnesota reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Worst Small Towns In Minnesota

Rank Town Population Unemployment Rate Home Value
1 Redby 1,135 23.2% $71,000
2 Red Lake 1,526 23.8% $1,000
3 Appleton 1,322 5.2% $57,400
4 Keewatin 1,190 4.3% $60,500
5 Sandstone 2,646 9.0% $95,800
6 Winnebago 1,253 6.5% $76,000
7 Crosby 2,677 7.2% $105,700
8 Aurora 1,709 13.3% $67,600
9 Mahnomen 1,119 11.4% $75,700
10 Hinckley 1,541 10.6% $134,700
11 Hilltop 1,165 11.1% $19,800
12 Staples 2,314 4.5% $95,300
13 St. James 4,749 10.6% $81,000
14 Bagley 1,175 6.6% $100,000
15 Wadena 4,283 13.3% $122,000
16 Elbow Lake 1,129 6.1% $87,800
17 Ortonville 2,045 3.8% $85,800
18 Menahga 1,087 4.5% $125,200
19 Fairfax 1,334 5.6% $77,100
20 Warroad 2,052 7.3% $138,400
21 Perham 3,460 10.3% $151,600
22 Frazee 1,146 6.4% $115,100
23 Park Rapids 4,026 4.6% $185,300
24 Pelican Rapids 2,577 4.0% $118,300
25 Braham 1,687 7.7% $150,100
26 Long Prairie 3,628 5.7% $107,800
27 Pipestone 4,185 4.2% $88,400
28 Moose Lake 3,258 1.9% $137,500
29 Fosston 1,384 5.5% $109,400
30 Blue Earth 3,252 5.7% $104,500
31 Warren 1,606 3.9% $103,700
32 Mountain Lake 1,952 4.6% $93,200
33 Nashwauk 1,144 7.6% $89,500
34 Preston 1,285 3.7% $122,000
35 Olivia 2,408 7.0% $126,600
36 Ely 3,280 3.3% $126,000
37 Renville 1,370 5.1% $79,800
38 Tracy 2,094 4.7% $82,000
39 Eveleth 3,513 1.7% $76,500
40 Parkers Prairie 1,198 3.5% $115,100
41 Princeton 4,784 3.7% $164,400
42 Mora 3,569 2.2% $138,000
43 Royalton 1,213 8.4% $157,700
44 Gilbert 1,829 3.1% $95,800
45 Stacy 1,914 6.4% $157,500
46 Rush City 3,238 3.5% $162,400
47 Jackson 3,310 5.1% $114,500
48 Spring Valley 2,478 4.8% $119,200
49 New York Mills 1,205 5.5% $110,700
50 Milaca 3,017 1.6% $143,600
51 Aitkin 2,126 4.1% $143,100
52 Pine City 3,142 4.5% $155,300
53 Slayton 2,030 3.5% $107,800
54 Coleraine 1,715 6.7% $145,900
55 Le Center 2,562 7.5% $151,600
56 Spring Grove 1,451 4.7% $111,700
57 Tyler 1,157 1.2% $93,400
58 Hoyt Lakes 2,204 15.5% $69,800
59 Babbitt 1,364 2.0% $75,200
60 Clara City 1,532 4.5% $115,800
61 Gaylord 1,966 6.8% $143,900
62 Sauk Centre 4,531 3.6% $156,900
63 Chisholm 4,784 5.6% $97,500
64 Pierz 1,640 4.2% $136,200
65 Windom 4,748 5.8% $119,500
66 Osakis 1,676 4.2% $138,100
67 Ada 1,865 8.6% $102,200
68 Granite Falls 2,466 3.9% $132,000
69 Blooming Prairie 2,074 3.7% $127,800
70 Hector 1,144 0.5% $93,500
71 Buhl 1,032 7.2% $102,700
72 Cokato 2,762 4.7% $165,700
73 Lexington 2,071 7.1% $228,400
74 Canby 1,497 4.4% $106,400
75 Foley 2,712 4.3% $162,400
76 Wabasha 2,477 5.8% $168,600
77 Breckenridge 3,439 5.3% $134,500
78 Wells 2,283 4.4% $82,400
79 Wheaton 1,254 2.4% $68,400
80 Kenyon 1,827 3.6% $141,000
81 Roseau 2,724 5.2% $142,200
82 Le Sueur 4,174 2.1% $168,500
83 Paynesville 2,048 2.4% $135,900
84 Arlington 2,466 2.2% $156,400
85 Truman 1,173 1.8% $76,900
86 Melrose 3,615 1.8% $147,900
87 Glenwood 2,620 0.5% $158,700
88 Benson 3,381 2.3% $112,000
89 Winsted 1,912 1.4% $165,000
90 Madelia 2,412 2.9% $121,800
91 Two Harbors 3,616 2.2% $159,400
92 Edgerton 1,226 0.8% $99,300
93 Pequot Lakes 2,166 9.0% $197,600
94 Rushford 1,720 4.6% $163,600
95 Sleepy Eye 3,454 4.8% $122,300
96 Dawson 1,440 4.7% $94,300
97 Red Lake Falls 1,267 0.7% $110,900
98 Goodhue 1,207 2.1% $179,500
99 Baudette 1,022 0.0% $120,600
100 Plainview 3,460 4.7% $175,000
About Nick Johnson

Nick Johnson earned his masters in Business Administration from the Drucker School At Claremont Graduate University. He has written for 39 publications across the country and ran the media relations department at Movoto, a real estate portal based in San Francisco. He has been featured in over 500 publications as an expert in real estate and as an authority on real estate trends.

Nick's the creator of the HomeSnacks YouTube channel that now has over 260,000 subscribers and is an excellent source to learn about different parts of the country.

 Worst

13 thoughts on “The 10 Worst Small Towns In Minnesota For 2023”

  1. Lake Bronson is a mile away and connected with a paved walking trail, from a beautiful State Park and there is plenty to do there!

    Reply

    1. I find the folks very friendly at Lake Bronson Beautiful Park, Beach, Fishing, Hiking Trails, Extremely nice County Museum just to name a few things. They also have Nice clean grocery store, Brand New Gas Bar, A Bar, A Legion, Good Auto mechanic shop, etc. Whomever wrote the article no doubt has never visited the area. The place is a very busy tourist stop each summer

      Reply

  2. What are your “obvious’ reasons for not discussing Native American communties? Rice Lake and Ogema are Native American communities.

    Reply

    1. I believe whomever wrote this has never visited many of these places, I found greet people and many things to do in most of these towns listed along the HWY 59 stretch

      Reply

  3. You don’t even talk about the top 10 you list? Way to proof read….wow is all I can say. Not taking advice from someone like you.

    Reply

  4. Should check your facts before you publish. Darfur does not have two post offices. There is a bank there And fertilizer plant and gas station. They also have a library.

    Reply

  5. Get your facts straight before you publish about Darfur There are not two post Offices there. There is have a big fertilizer plant with a gas station. There is a library. There is a bank

    Reply

  6. Pretty sad about some of these. I doubt that they really looked into this. I life by De Graff and work at the Walmart. Sad article.

    Reply

  7. I think it’s interesting especially when you get to the bottom of the “article” and see the “Top 100” list and the top 3 are on a reservation but they decided to skip over them and go to the 3rd place on the list which is Brooks and go down from there, and that they don’t mention that Brooks is another retirement town that wouldn’t have tons of working people along with the low education levels is possibly due to the high average age of the community being from a time that a education wasn’t important.

    Reply

  8. If there was high speed internet, so you could work from home, some of those low home prices would be great places to live.Jo

    Reply

  9. Everyone knows that Bejou Rules! I think they actually need to visit the places before they put them on the Shit list. The list of towns mentioned doesn’t match match up with the list below.

    Reply

  10. Maybe the person who wrote this article should actually go visit the people in the towns they are referring to. Clearly, they didn’t because the picture from the town of Boyd isn’t even a picture of the town!! Complete moron!

    Reply

  11. Lol…one person’s opinion means nothing. What type of person would want to find fault where people call their home…sad.

    Reply

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