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Place dossier plate
SheetMN-ALEXANDRIA-MN · Alexandria, MN 14,579 pop · income 38th pct · 11 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Alexandria
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Alexandria on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Clarkston · lowest
46,495
Clarkston · lowest
46,495 median HH income
26.9% of the leader · rank #1
Cache · near
61,554
Cache · near
61,554 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #2
Mobridge · near
61,556
Mobridge · near
61,556 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #3
Alexandria · this city
61,558
Alexandria · this city
61,558 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #4
New Boston · near
61,563
New Boston · near
61,563 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #5
North Salem · near
61,563
North Salem · near
61,563 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #6
Key Biscayne · highest
172,604
Key Biscayne · highest
172,604 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Alexandria on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 14,579.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Alexandria - the verdict
Alexandria ranks in the 38th percentile for household income and the 37th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
38th
percentile, household income
55th
percentile, home value
36th
percentile, median rent
37th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Alexandria, MN
Alexandria is a small town in Minnesota, home to 14,579 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Alexandria households earn a median of $61,558 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 4.5%. Typical homes in Alexandria are valued around $247,200, and the median resident age is 39.0 years. Educational attainment runs 31.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 62.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 134 residential building permits were authorized in Alexandria (Building Boom), up 148% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Alexandria reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1810.3 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 42.5°F with 24.1 inches of precipitation per year.
Minnesota tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Minnesota scores 98.6 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,125 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Minnesota run around $225, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Alexandria report an average commute of 15.5 minutes, with 79.6% driving alone and 7.8% working from home. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 42.4 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Alexandria's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from within-city variation to work and mobility to climate and hazard context to housing and income to comparison shortlist to reported crime to schools and households to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Alexandria, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can 11 Census tracts reveal inside Alexandria?
PlainCities matches 11 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
What does the journey to work look like in Alexandria?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 15.5 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
What physical conditions frame life in Alexandria?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 42.5°F, with 24.1 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Minnesota is 42.4 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
Which cities make useful reference points for Alexandria?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Minnesota, the closest population matches are Monticello (14,607 residents, $81,563 income); Hutchinson (14,629 residents, $71,730 income); Brainerd (14,474 residents, $53,705 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Cherryland, CA (14,575 residents); Red Bluff, CA (14,592 residents); Falls Church, VA (14,593 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Alexandria?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.0×
Home value
$247,200
Household income
$61,558
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Alexandria?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1810.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 21% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
1810.3
Violent rate
290.7
Property rate
1519.6
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the education layer cover for Alexandria?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 9 public schools within the city match. 31.8% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
4.5%
Bachelor's degree+
31.8%
Matched public schools
9
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Alexandria growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +631 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 134 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
2020 estimate
14,414
2025 estimate
15,045
Period change
+4.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 4.5% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
98.6 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Minnesota average
D
City profile score · Alexandria, MN
48/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Poverty rate B-
4.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C+
31.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living D
98.6 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income F
$61,558
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
291 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Alexandria profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 69/100 (B-) · 4.5%
Bachelor's+ share: 61/100 (C+) · 31.8%
Cost of living: 46/100 (D) · 98.6 index
Household income: 37/100 (F) · $61,558
Violent crime: 34/100 (F) · 291 /100k
Where Alexandria sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Alexandria's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Alexandria highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Alexandria, MN (this city): home $247,200, crime 1,810/100k
Red Bluff, CA : home $271,100, crime 5,527/100k
Falls Church, VA : home $1,005,400, crime 1,622/100k
Great Bend, KS : home $118,700, crime 1,872/100k
Key Biscayne, FL : home $1,238,700, crime 832/100k
Hutchinson, MN : home $210,300, crime 1,412/100k
Brainerd, MN : home $178,600, crime 2,210/100k
Robbinsdale, MN : home $280,400, crime 2,157/100k
North Mankato, MN : home $252,700, crime 999/100k
Fergus Falls, MN : home $173,300, crime 2,569/100k
How does Alexandria compare to other US cities?
Here's how Alexandria stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income38% higher than other cities
Home value55% pricier than other cities
Median rent36% pricier than other cities
Safety37% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Minnesota and the picture shifts: Alexandria ranks #180 of 229 Minnesota cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Alexandria against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Minnesota only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Minnesota-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Alexandria near the bottom of Minnesota's cities
Among the 785 Minnesota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Alexandria ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Alexandria only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#503 of 775
35th percentile in Minnesota
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 785
0th percentile in Minnesota
Median Home Value
#221 of 774
71st percentile in Minnesota
Poverty Rate
#456 of 785
41st percentile in Minnesota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#183 of 784
76th percentile in Minnesota
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Minnesota only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
38th percentile nationally for median household income · 37th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Alexandria's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Alexandria's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Alexandria's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$247,20045th percentilemore affordable than 45% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Alexandria's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,752 of 15,516
More affordable than 31% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,001 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.0×, Alexandria sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,752 of 15,516 and #2,001 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$61,558Alexandria, MN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Alexandria, MN median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Alexandria, MN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)31.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
14,579
Median Income
$61,558
Median Home Value
$247,200
Median Age
39.0
Poverty Rate
4.5%
Labor force participation
62.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
31.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1810.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
290.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1519.6
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
42.5°F
Annual Precipitation
24.1"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
9
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Alexandria's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
14,414 residents
2021
14,612 residents
2022
14,887 residents
2023
14,938 residents
2024
14,924 residents
2025
15,045 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
134
housing units authorized
Single-Family
44
detached homes
Multifamily
90
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
9.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
54
54
0
$12.6M
2020
173
65
108
$31.1M
2021
210
57
153
$32.4M
2022
54
52
2
$19.4M
2023
35
35
0
$13.3M
2024
134
44
90
$31.8M
Permit volume increased 148% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
15.5 minutes
Drive Alone
79.6%
Carpool
7.2%
Public Transit
0.4%
Walk
3.4%
Work from Home
7.8%
Other
1.6%
Based on 7,350 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Minnesota statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Minnesota at $225 (electricity about $95 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Minnesota statewide averages, not a meter reading for Alexandria. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Minnesota's BEA cost-of-living index is 98.6 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Alexandria is $1,125/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Minnesota statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 42.4 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Minnesota statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Alexandria sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Alexandria compares to similar-size Minnesota cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.