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Place dossier plate
SheetMN-INTERNATIONAL-FALLS-MN · International Falls, MN 5,728 pop · income 37th pct · 5 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 International Falls
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest International Falls on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
East Alton · lowest
46,926
East Alton · lowest
46,926 median HH income
31.4% of the leader · rank #1
Bergman · near
61,042
Bergman · near
61,042 median HH income
40.8% of the leader · rank #2
Turkey Creek · near
61,042
Turkey Creek · near
61,042 median HH income
40.8% of the leader · rank #3
New Paris · near
61,042
New Paris · near
61,042 median HH income
40.8% of the leader · rank #4
Pratt · near
61,042
Pratt · near
61,042 median HH income
40.8% of the leader · rank #5
International… · this city
61,043
International… · this city
61,043 median HH income
40.8% of the leader · rank #6
Credit River · highest
149,524
Credit River · highest
149,524 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 International Falls 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: 5,728.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
International Falls - the verdict
International Falls ranks in the 37th percentile for household income and the 44th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
37th
percentile, household income
15th
percentile, home value
36th
percentile, median rent
44th
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: International Falls, MN
Minnesota's International Falls is a small town, with 5,728 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $61,043 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.4%. Typical homes in International Falls are valued around $115,000, and the median resident age is 47.0 years. Educational attainment runs 20.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 56.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits). International Falls reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 1569.8 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,125 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Minnesota run around $225, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 International Falls'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 comparison shortlist to housing and income to within-city variation to reported crime to schools and households to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For International Falls, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for International Falls?
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 Glencoe (5,702 residents, $63,967 income); Chisago City (5,629 residents, $96,964 income); Credit River (5,531 residents, $149,524 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Livingston, TX (5,728 residents); East Alton, IL (5,729 residents); Abingdon, MD (5,727 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.
How far does income reach against housing in International Falls?
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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What can 5 Census tracts reveal inside International Falls?
PlainCities matches 5 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 can the FBI record say about safety in International Falls?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1569.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 31% 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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for International Falls?
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 3 public schools within the city match. 20.1% 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
7.4%
Bachelor's degree+
20.1%
Matched public schools
3
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is International Falls growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -298 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -5.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 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 downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
2020 estimate
5,779
2025 estimate
5,481
Period change
-5.2%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in International Falls?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 66.0%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Drive alone
66.0%
Work from home
12.8%
Public transit
0.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,680 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 7.4% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
98.6 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Minnesota average
F
City profile score · International Falls, MN
34/100
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 C-
7.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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
$61,043
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
20.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
704 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
International Falls profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 50/100 (C-) · 7.4%
Cost of living: 46/100 (D) · 98.6 index
Household income: 36/100 (F) · $61,043
Bachelor's+ share: 35/100 (F) · 20.1%
Violent crime: 5/100 (F) · 704 /100k
Where International Falls sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
International Falls'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 - International Falls highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
International Falls, MN (this city): home $115,000, crime 1,570/100k
Livingston, TX : home $158,100, crime 3,772/100k
East Alton, IL : home $99,600, crime 2,055/100k
Newmarket, NH : home $364,800, crime 432/100k
Ware, MA : home $229,700, crime 1,052/100k
Glencoe, MN : home $213,100, crime 602/100k
St. Paul Park, MN : home $252,800, crime 1,148/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does International Falls compare to other US cities?
Here's how International Falls stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income37% higher than other cities
Home value15% pricier than other cities
Median rent36% pricier than other cities
Safety44% 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: International Falls ranks #165 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 International Falls 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 International Falls near the bottom of Minnesota's cities
Among the 785 Minnesota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, International Falls ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares International Falls only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#513 of 775
34th percentile in Minnesota
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 785
0th percentile in Minnesota
Median Home Value
#578 of 774
25th percentile in Minnesota
Poverty Rate
#289 of 785
62nd percentile in Minnesota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#399 of 784
48th 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
37th percentile nationally for median household income · 44th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
International Falls's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
International Falls'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 International Falls's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$115,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 85% 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
International Falls's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,247 of 15,516
More affordable than 92% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,202 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.9×, International Falls sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,247 of 15,516 and #1,202 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$61,043International Falls, MN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context International Falls, 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 International Falls, MN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,728
Median Income
$61,043
Median Home Value
$115,000
Median Age
47.0
Poverty Rate
7.4%
Labor force participation
56.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1569.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
703.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
866.1
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.
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
International Falls's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,779 residents
2021
5,724 residents
2022
5,660 residents
2023
5,594 residents
2024
5,503 residents
2025
5,481 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
66.0%
Carpool
12.4%
Public Transit
0.7%
Walk
4.9%
Work from Home
12.8%
Other
3.2%
Based on 2,680 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 International Falls. 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 International Falls 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 International Falls sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How International Falls 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, 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.