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Place dossier plate
SheetMN-MANKATO-MN · Mankato, MN 44,882 pop · income 43rd pct · 16 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 Mankato
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Mankato on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
West Lafayette · lowest
33,497
West Lafayette · lowest
33,497 median HH income
27.6% of the leader · rank #1
Greenehaven · near
64,818
Greenehaven · near
64,818 median HH income
53.4% of the leader · rank #2
Burwell · near
64,821
Burwell · near
64,821 median HH income
53.4% of the leader · rank #3
Pueblitos · near
64,821
Pueblitos · near
64,821 median HH income
53.4% of the leader · rank #4
Mankato · this city
64,826
Mankato · this city
64,826 median HH income
53.4% of the leader · rank #5
White Oak · near
64,838
White Oak · near
64,838 median HH income
53.4% of the leader · rank #6
Cottage Grove · highest
121,452
Cottage Grove · highest
121,452 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 Mankato 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: 44,882.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Mankato - the verdict
Mankato ranks in the 43rd percentile for household income and the 17th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
43rd
percentile, household income
56th
percentile, home value
36th
percentile, median rent
17th
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: Mankato, MN
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 44,882 residents in Mankato, a small city within Minnesota. Households in Mankato report a median income of $64,826 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 10.1%. Mankato's housing stock carries a median value of $250,600, and the median resident age is 26.8 years. 36.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 66.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 206 residential building permits were authorized in Mankato (Building Boom), up 54% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Mankato's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 2865.4 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Mankato's yearly average temperature at 45.3°F with 33.9 inches of precipitation per year and 38.7 inches of snowfall.
Minnesota tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 98.6 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,125 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Minnesota's average monthly utility costs around $225 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 42.4 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Mankato'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 reported crime to within-city variation to climate and hazard context to housing and income to schools and households to work and mobility to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Mankato, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in Mankato?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2865.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 26% higher 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.
PlainCities matches 16 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.
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 45.3°F, with 33.9 inches of precipitation and 38.7 inches of annual snowfall. 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 Mankato?
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 Shakopee (45,002 residents, $110,989 income); Moorhead (44,706 residents, $69,371 income); Maplewood (40,981 residents, $88,534 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are The Colony, TX (44,916 residents); York, PA (44,830 residents); Riverton, UT (44,944 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 Mankato?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.9×
Home value
$250,600
Household income
$64,826
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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 15 public schools within the city match. 36.2% 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.
Poverty estimate
10.1%
Bachelor's degree+
36.2%
Matched public schools
15
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Mankato?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 73.6%. 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
73.6%
Work from home
7.8%
Public transit
2.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 24,269 workers age 16+.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,895 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 206 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
44,634
2025 estimate
46,529
Period change
+4.2%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 10.1% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
98.6 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Minnesota average
D
City profile score · Mankato, MN
46/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share B-
36.2%
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 D
$64,826
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime D
256 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
10.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Mankato profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 69/100 (B-) · 36.2%
Cost of living: 46/100 (D) · 98.6 index
Household income: 42/100 (D) · $64,826
Violent crime: 40/100 (D) · 256 /100k
Poverty rate: 39/100 (F) · 10.1%
Where Mankato sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Mankato'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 - Mankato highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Mankato, MN (this city): home $250,600, crime 2,865/100k
The Colony, TX : home $355,100, crime 1,569/100k
York, PA : home $103,100, crime 2,392/100k
Riverton, UT : home $543,900, crime 968/100k
West Lafayette, IN : home $318,100, crime 1,298/100k
Palm Springs, CA : home $567,300, crime 3,817/100k
Shakopee, MN : home $361,400, crime 1,275/100k
Moorhead, MN : home $246,300, crime 2,041/100k
Maplewood, MN : home $291,300, crime 3,169/100k
St. Louis Park, MN : home $371,600, crime 3,507/100k
Cottage Grove, MN : home $359,600, crime 721/100k
Richfield, MN : home $320,400, crime 2,728/100k
How does Mankato compare to other US cities?
Mankato measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income43% higher than other cities
Home value56% pricier than other cities
Median rent36% pricier than other cities
Safety17% 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: Mankato ranks #212 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 Mankato 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 Mankato near the bottom of Minnesota's cities
Among the 785 Minnesota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Mankato ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Mankato only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#439 of 775
43rd percentile in Minnesota
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 785
0th percentile in Minnesota
Median Home Value
#213 of 774
72nd percentile in Minnesota
Poverty Rate
#194 of 785
75th percentile in Minnesota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#143 of 784
82nd 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
43rd percentile nationally for median household income · 17th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Mankato's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Mankato'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 Mankato's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$250,60044th percentilemore affordable than 44% 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
Mankato's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,273 of 15,516
More affordable than 34% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,851 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.9×, Mankato sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,273 of 15,516 and #1,851 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
$64,826Mankato, MN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Mankato, 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 Mankato, MN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)36.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
44,882
Median Income
$64,826
Median Home Value
$250,600
Median Age
26.8
Poverty Rate
10.1%
Labor force participation
66.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
36.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2865.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
255.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2609.6
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
45.3°F
Annual Precipitation
33.9"
Annual Snowfall
38.7"
Schools
Total Schools
15
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Mankato's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
44,634 residents
2021
44,912 residents
2022
45,700 residents
2023
46,102 residents
2024
46,186 residents
2025
46,529 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
206
housing units authorized
Single-Family
22
detached homes
Multifamily
184
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
4.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
134
85
49
$27.7M
2020
304
133
171
$56.8M
2021
264
123
141
$53.2M
2022
343
41
302
$63.4M
2023
396
89
307
$64.1M
2024
206
22
184
$45.5M
Permit volume increased 54% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
73.6%
Carpool
11.2%
Public Transit
2.7%
Walk
3.5%
Work from Home
7.8%
Other
1.2%
Based on 24,269 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 Mankato. 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 Mankato 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 Mankato sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Mankato 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.