Counties / Minnesota / Becker County

Becker County, MN

FIPS 27005 · population 35,343 · outside every metro area

$366k
Zillow home value · 2026-06
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

Zillow home value
$366k
▲ 4.8% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$920
occupied-unit survey; not current asking rent
Census ACS · surveyed
Gross yield
n/a
gross yield cannot be computed without measured market rent
requires both measured price and measured rent
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,027
the Section 8 payment standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Independent price check

Do two methods point the same way?

Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.

Both annual signals move in the same direction
FHFA five-year cumulative+47.0%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+4.8%FHFA HPI2025+5.8%
Annual changes use different methods and may use different periods. The comparison checks direction and magnitude; it does not create a blended estimate. Zillow county ZHVI pulled 2026-07-26; FHFA annual county HPI pulled 2026-07-28.
Owner-reported value$291k
Surveyed gross rent$920
Rent burden 30%+46.4%
Median year built1981
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
28.0%vacant
20,005estimated housing units
Occupied tenure22.8% renter
owner 77.2%renter 22.8%
Structure mix82.0% single-family
Single-family 82.0%20+ units 4.2%Mobile home 7.7%Other 6.1%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs15,357▲ 1.6% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments1,122annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,057▲ 3.2% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities21.3% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+1.6%WEEKLY WAGE+3.2%Trade, transportation, and utilities21.3%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Becker County presents a valuation-versus-exit-liquidity tension: measured home values rose while MLS evidence shows more negotiation. It merits investigation by buyers who can validate rent and sale comparables; buyers relying on appreciation or quick resale should be cautious. Zillow’s county median home value was $366,455 in 2026-06, up 4.81%. Separately, FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI for 2025 rose 5.75% annually and 47.01% cumulatively over five years. The index is not a home value, and its different vintage and method cannot be averaged with Zillow’s change.

02Housing economics

Published market rent is absent, preventing a gross-yield calculation and any price-to-rent conclusion. HUD FMR is $1,027 per month; it is a payment standard rather than measured asking rent and cannot substitute for market rent. Carrying-cost review should include the 0.69% effective property-tax rate and $2,014 median annual tax. These county figures do not resolve taxes on a particular parcel. Lease comps, achieved rents, vacancy, utilities, insurance, financing, and repair costs are not published here, so net cash flow and affordability cannot be underwritten.

03Demand & competition

In Realtor.com’s MLS listing market at 2026-06, median listing price was down 1.15% year over year, alongside 186 active listings, a 50-day median marketing time, a 30.01% price-reduced share, and a 37.74% pending-to-active ratio. These are asking-price, visible-supply, marketing-time, and seller-concession evidence—not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand. QCEW records 15,357 annual-average covered jobs at county workplaces and a $1,057 average weekly covered-worker wage. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, representing 21.27% of private covered jobs; it does not describe the full economy or resident employment. Positive net migration and higher average income among in-movers than out-movers warrant a demand check, but do not establish household formation or purchasing power.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood aligns with a modeled annual climate-loss ratio of 0.09% of building value, not a site-specific insurance quote. Non-occupant buyers represented 10.24% of reported purchase mortgages; strategies and cash deals are unknown. Test flood-zone status, insurance availability, claims history, lease statements, operating costs, and closed-sale comparables before relying on county-level signals.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Becker County

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Detroit Lakes city10KFrazee city1.6KLake Park city600White Earth CDP506Audubon city388Osage CDP290Ogema city257Pine Point CDP241
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

11 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Detroit Lakes cityIncorporated place
    10,025
  2. 02
    Frazee cityIncorporated place
    1,647
  3. 03
    Lake Park cityIncorporated place
    600
  4. 04
    White Earth CDPCensus-designated place
    506
  5. 05
    Audubon cityIncorporated place
    388
  6. 06
    Osage CDPCensus-designated place
    290
  7. 07
    Ogema cityIncorporated place
    257
  8. 08
    Pine Point CDPCensus-designated place
    241
  9. 09
    Callaway cityIncorporated place
    224
  10. 10
    Elbow Lake CDPCensus-designated place · spans 2 counties
    76
  11. 11
    Wolf Lake cityIncorporated place
    73

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardinland flooding

0.094% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.69%

$2,014 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+21

886 in · 865 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$9,709

$75,036 arriving · $65,327 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors10.2%

42 of 410 mortgages

investorother financed
Current listing pressure

What sellers and visible supply are doing

Realtor.com® Economic Research · county inventory 2026-06 · pulled 2026-07-28
Active listings186▲ 2.8% year over year
Median days on market50▲ 3.1% year over year
Listings price-reduced30.0%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 1.1% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

No rent index is published for this county.Zillow’s county rent series does not cover every county, and estimating one from a neighbouring county would be a guess wearing a number’s clothes. Everything above is measured here; no wider market is mapped for it either.
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Unpublished market rent, vacancy, and operating expenses could produce inadequate property-level income.
  2. Parcel flood exposure, insurance availability, and claims history could differ from the county-level modeled loss.
  3. Asking-price and seller-concession metrics may not match executable closed-sale pricing for the target segment.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. County market rent is not published, and HUD FMR is not a substitute for measured market rent.

What does the FHFA measure establish?

It measures repeat-transaction home-price index movement, not a dollar home value or a value estimate for a specific property.

What buyer-competition evidence is available?

The record reports non-occupant purchase-mortgage participation, but it does not identify buyer strategies or cash transactions.