Counties / Minnesota / Lake County

Lake County, MN

FIPS 27075 · population 10,879 · outside every metro area

$287k
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
$287k
▲ 4.5% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$1,093
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
$1,277
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+58.0%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+4.5%FHFA HPI2025+4.5%
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$241k
Surveyed gross rent$1,093
Rent burden 30%+45.0%
Median year built1969
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
33.7%vacant
7,449estimated housing units
Occupied tenure16.5% renter
owner 83.5%renter 16.5%
Structure mix88.4% single-family
Single-family 88.4%20+ units 3.1%Mobile home 2.7%Other 5.7%
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 jobs3,991▲ 2.3% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments381annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,073▲ 2.5% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorLeisure and hospitality24.5% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+2.3%WEEKLY WAGE+2.5%Leisure and hospitality24.5%
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

Lake County's decision tension is an appreciating county home-value signal against softer visible listing conditions and no measured market rent. In Zillow's 2026-06 county observation, median home value was $287,270, up 4.5% year over year. Separately, FHFA's annual 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 4.54% year over year and 58.02% over five years. Those directions are consistent, but neither shares a vintage or method: FHFA is an index, not a home value, and the rates cannot be combined. Cash-flow buyers should be cautious until local lease evidence is obtained.

02Housing economics

Market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be calculated from the record. HUD's supplied two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard rather than an asking-rent estimate and cannot fill that gap. The effective property-tax rate is 0.73%, a disclosed carrying-cost input whose property-level bill still depends on assessment and exemptions. Missing insurance, utilities, repairs, vacancy, financing, and parcel tax data prevent an all-in cash-flow conclusion.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com's 2026-06 MLS listing market showed active listings up 24.31% year over year, while 20.95% of listings had price reductions. This is visible asking supply and seller-concession evidence, not closed-sale pricing or proof of buyer demand. Tax-return migration was negative by 60 households; incoming movers' average AGI exceeded outgoing movers' by a calculated $9,449, so lower household flow and higher mover income coexist. Investor purchases were 12 of 169 total purchases, or 7.1%, indicating participation that should be assessed against transaction-level competition rather than assumed to set prices.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the named dominant hazard, and the modeled annual climate loss ratio is 0.13% of building value. That is a county-level expected-loss model, not a realized loss, parcel flood determination, or insurance quote. The next checks are property-specific flood zone and insurance terms, signed-market rent and lease concessions, closed-sale comparables, and assessed-tax bills. Without them, an underwriter cannot price hazard costs, validate exit value, or determine property-level income durability.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Lake 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
Two Harbors city3.6KSilver Bay city1.8KFinland CDP257Knife River CDP131Beaver Bay city82
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

5 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Two Harbors cityIncorporated place
    3,567
  2. 02
    Silver Bay cityIncorporated place
    1,769
  3. 03
    Finland CDPCensus-designated place
    257
  4. 04
    Knife River CDPCensus-designated place
    131
  5. 05
    Beaver Bay cityIncorporated place
    82

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

0.128% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.73%

$1,765 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-60

263 in · 323 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$9,449

$70,867 arriving · $61,418 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors7.1%

12 of 169 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 listings113▲ 24.3% year over year
Median days on market47▲ 1.1% year over year
Listings price-reduced20.9%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 29.1% 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. County-level indicators can conceal neighborhood, property-type, and parcel variation.
  2. Unpublished market rent, operating costs, and parcel tax bills could materially change property-level cash flow.
  3. County modeled flood loss may diverge from parcel exposure, insurance terms, and realized losses.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Market rent is not published, and HUD FMR is not market rent.

What do the MLS listing figures establish about buyer demand?

They establish visible active-listing supply and seller concessions, not closed-sale demand.

Which hazard requires property-specific review?

Inland flood; county-level modeled loss does not identify a parcel's flood exposure or insurance terms.