Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetMN-LITCHFIELD-MN · Litchfield, MN 6,599 pop · income 31st pct · 6 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 Litchfield
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Litchfield on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Iowa City · lowest
57,533
Iowa City · lowest
57,533 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #1
Gladstone · near
57,534
Gladstone · near
57,534 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #2
Fancy Farm · near
57,536
Fancy Farm · near
57,536 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #3
Callahan · near
57,538
Callahan · near
57,538 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #4
Litchfield · this city
57,539
Litchfield · this city
57,539 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #5
Champaign · near
57,544
Champaign · near
57,544 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #6
Strathmore · highest
155,048
Strathmore · highest
155,048 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 Litchfield 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: 6,599.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Litchfield - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Litchfield lands in the 31st percentile for household income and the 51st percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
31st
percentile, household income
38th
percentile, home value
36th
percentile, median rent
51st
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: Litchfield, MN
6,599 people live in Litchfield, Minnesota - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Litchfield households earn a median of $57,539 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 5.7%. Home values in Litchfield run a median of $183,900, and the median resident age is 44.5 years. About 20.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 61.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 14 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 180% from five years earlier. Litchfield reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1320.6 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). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 42.2°F with 29.8 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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,125 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $225 across Minnesota, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. The average commute for Litchfield workers runs 17.2 minutes, with 87.5% driving alone and 3.4% working from home. Natural-hazard exposure scores 42.4 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Litchfield'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 within-city variation to work and mobility to reported crime to housing and income to schools and households to climate and hazard context to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Litchfield, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Litchfield?
Within Minnesota, the closest population matches are Byron (6,510 residents, $121,681 income); Jordan (6,704 residents, $110,139 income); Delano (6,712 residents, $118,091 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Southold, NY (6,600 residents); Orchard Mesa, CO (6,597 residents); Lake Shore, WA (6,601 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.
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.
What can 6 Census tracts reveal inside Litchfield?
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 Litchfield?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.2 minutes.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Litchfield?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1320.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 42% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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 Litchfield?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Household income
$57,539
Home value
$183,900
Value / income
3.2×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the education layer cover for Litchfield?
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 20.2% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
6
Bachelor's degree+
20.2%
Poverty estimate
5.7%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What physical conditions frame life in Litchfield?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 42.2°F, with 29.8 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.
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.
Mean temperature
42.2°F
Annual precipitation
29.8 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
42.4
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Is Litchfield growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -102 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 14 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
-1.5%
2025 estimate
6,528
2020 estimate
6,630
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 5.7% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
98.6 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Minnesota average
D
City profile score · Litchfield, MN
43/100
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+
5.7%
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.
Violent crime D
246 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
20.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$57,539
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Litchfield profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 61/100 (C+) · 5.7%
Cost of living: 46/100 (D) · 98.6 index
Violent crime: 41/100 (D) · 246 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 35/100 (F) · 20.2%
Household income: 31/100 (F) · $57,539
Where Litchfield sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Litchfield'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 - Litchfield highlighted among 23 peers.Read the chart values
Litchfield, MN (this city): home $183,900, crime 1,321/100k
Jordan, MN : home $319,000, crime 501/100k
Corcoran, MN : home $540,100, crime 520/100k
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 Litchfield compare to other US cities?
Here's how Litchfield stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income31% higher than other cities
Home value38% pricier than other cities
Median rent36% pricier than other cities
Safety51% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Minnesota alone, Litchfield ranks #147 of 229 Minnesota cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Litchfield 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 Litchfield near the bottom of Minnesota's cities
Among the 785 Minnesota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Litchfield ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Litchfield only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#563 of 775
27th percentile in Minnesota
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 785
0th percentile in Minnesota
Median Home Value
#360 of 774
53rd percentile in Minnesota
Poverty Rate
#369 of 785
52nd percentile in Minnesota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#394 of 784
49th 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
31st percentile nationally for median household income · 51st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Litchfield's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Litchfield'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 Litchfield's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$183,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 62% 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
Litchfield's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,673 of 15,516
More affordable than 51% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,347 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.2×, Litchfield sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,673 of 15,516 and #6,347 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$57,539Litchfield, MN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Litchfield, 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 Litchfield, MN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,599
Median Income
$57,539
Median Home Value
$183,900
Median Age
44.5
Poverty Rate
5.7%
Labor force participation
61.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1320.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
245.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1074.9
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
42.2°F
Annual Precipitation
29.8"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
6
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Litchfield's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
6,630 residents
2021
6,591 residents
2022
6,615 residents
2023
6,550 residents
2024
6,519 residents
2025
6,528 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
14
housing units authorized
Single-Family
9
detached homes
Multifamily
5
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
5
3
2
$1.1M
2020
10
8
2
$2.2M
2021
15
3
12
$2.2M
2022
9
9
0
$3.0M
2023
2
2
0
$0.6M
2024
14
9
5
$3.6M
Permit volume increased 180% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.2 minutes
Drive Alone
87.5%
Carpool
7.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.7%
Work from Home
3.4%
Based on 3,259 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 Litchfield. 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 Litchfield 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 Litchfield sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Litchfield 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.