City · McLeod County, Minnesota

Lester Prairie, Minnesota

Lester Prairie is a city in McLeod County, Minnesota, part of the Hutchinson, MN metro area. It has 1,898 residents. Lester Prairie, Minnesota has a quality-of-life score of 85 out of 100 (very high), ranking #2,271 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Minnesota it ranks #173 of 364 cities and towns. It ranks best on drought exposure (low), social associations (high) and unemployment rate (low). It ranks worst on preventable hospital stays (high), mental health care shortage (high) and bachelor's degree or higher (low).

85Very high

Quality-of-life score: #2,271 of 15,651 cities and towns
Minnesota: #173 of 364 in MN
Population: 1,898 (2020-2024)
Land area: 1 mi²
Density: 1,892.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 2736728

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety85#2,420/15,637
Economy85#2,308/15,631
Housing64#5,410/14,977
Health68#5,013/15,609
Healthcare66#5,257/15,650
Environment99#87/15,453
Education58#6,636/15,649
Infrastructure40#9,400/15,650
Community94#931/15,651
Leisure & amenities51#7,727/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Lester Prairie, Minnesota ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “McLeod County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Drought exposure · low0%
96/100Minnesota 36%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAMcLeod County value
Social associations · high16.6 /10k
95/100Minnesota 12.2 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMcLeod County value
Unemployment rate · low0.8%
93/100Minnesota 3.9%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025
Poverty rate · low3.0%
93/100Minnesota 9.3%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Child poverty rate · low2.1%
92/100Minnesota 9.6%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001High uncertainty
Uninsured residents (under 65) · low2.2%
90/100Minnesota 6.0%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010High uncertainty

Weaknesses

Preventable hospital stays · high5,398 /100k
1/100Minnesota 2,419 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMcLeod County value
Mental health care shortage · high19.0
4/100Minnesota 8.0United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationMcLeod County value
Bachelor's degree or higher · low12.9%
12/100Minnesota 39.4%United States 35.7%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Adult obesity · high42.1%
12/100Minnesota 37.1%United States 38.2%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
New business applications · low9.0 /1k
15/100Minnesota 12.7 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauMcLeod County value
Public transit commuters · low0.0%
27/100Minnesota 1.8%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Child poverty rateImproving
22.8% (2015-2019) → 2.1% (2020-2024)
−21 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
New homes permittedWorsening
3.9 /1k (2021) → 0.5 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−87%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
57.0% (2015-2019) → 41.3% (2020-2024)
−16 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Median household incomeImproving
$59,688 (2015-2019) → $96,544 (2020-2024)
+62%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
79.5% (2015-2019) → 90.5% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Poverty rateImproving
13.8% (2015-2019) → 3.0% (2020-2024)
−11 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Lester Prairie, Minnesota improved on 3 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 9 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved3

Poverty−11 points13.8% → 3.0%
Household income+62%$59,688 → $96,544
Broadband+11 points79.5% → 90.5%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Lester Prairie, Minnesota between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	28.1 min2015-2019	30.0 min2020-2024	+1.9 min	Within the margin of error	28%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.9%2015-2019	13.0%2020-2024	−3.9 points	Within the margin of error	9%
Broadband subscriptions	79.5%2015-2019	90.5%2020-2024	+11 points	Improved	65%
Effective property tax rate	1.25%2015-2019	1.23%2020-2024	−0 points	Within the margin of error	20%
High school diploma or higher	88.7%2015-2019	90.4%2020-2024	+1.7 points	Within the margin of error	55%
Home price to income ratio	2.5×2015-2019	2.5×2020-2024	−0.1×	Within the margin of error	81%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3822015-2019	0.3652020-2024	−0.017	Within the margin of error	65%
Median household income	$59,6882015-2019	$96,5442020-2024	+62%	Improved	91%
Poverty rate	13.8%2015-2019	3.0%2020-2024	−11 points	Improved	94%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	32.3%2015-2019	26.4%2020-2024	−5.9 points	Within the margin of error	85%
Rent-burdened households	57.0%2015-2019	41.3%2020-2024	−16 points	Within the margin of error	90%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Lester Prairie, Minnesota five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Lester Prairie, Minnesota in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Lester Prairie, Minnesota itself moved +10.6 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

1,898 residents (±233)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†
50–59†
40–49
30–39†
20–29†
10–19†
Under 10†

Share of all residents, each sex

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Under 10 women (−4.2 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B01001View table on data.census.gov

Race and Hispanic origin

1,898 residents (±233)

Lester Prairie, Minnesota
Minnesota share

White73%1,391
Black1.1%†20
Hispanic or Latino20%†381

Education

1,127 residents (±131)

Lester Prairie, Minnesota
Minnesota share

No high school diploma9.6%†108
High school or GED34%388
Some college25%287

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

685 households (±73)

Lester Prairie, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Under $25k9.5%†65
$25k–50k16%†109
$50k–75k12%†85
$75k–100k16%†107
$100k–150k26%178
$150k–200k15%†104
$200k or more5.4%†37

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Under $25k (−10.4 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B19001View table on data.census.gov

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

685 households (±73)

Lester Prairie, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Own86%588
Rent14%†97

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+4.9 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B25003View table on data.census.gov

Rent paid

92 households (±37)

Lester Prairie, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Under $75061%†56
$750–1,00021%†19
$1,000–1,50018%†

Home values

588 homes (±64)

Lester Prairie, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Under $150k14%†82
$150k–250k44%256
$250k–400k38%223

Age of homes

713 homes (±74)

Lester Prairie, Minnesota
Minnesota share

2010 or later3.5%†25
2000–200926%182
1980–199916%†111

Size of homes

713 homes (±74)

Lester Prairie, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Studio0.0%0
1 bedroom2.2%†16
2 bedrooms32%231

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,063 workers (±157)

Lester Prairie, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Drive alone75%796
Carpool8.5%†90
Public transit0.0%0
Walk6.6%†70
Bike1.2%†13
Work from home8.6%†91
Other0.3%†3

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Work from home (+5.3 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B08301View table on data.census.gov

Time to get to work

972 workers (±156)

Lester Prairie, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Under 15 min21%207
15–29 min32%308
30–44 min22%216

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Hutchinson, MN

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of McLeod County, the county holding most of Lester Prairie's residents.

McLeod County has 956 employer establishments, 259 for every 10,000 residents (1.04× the US rate of 248; 0.97× Minnesota's), with 14,890 paid employees at an average annual pay of $52,607. The Census Bureau also counts 2,574 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 956; 2,574 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 259; US 248 · Minnesota 268
Paid employees: 14,890
Average annual pay: $52,607; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of McLeod County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Specialty trade contractors	75	20.3	1.31×More than typical	457	$76,217	241
Ambulatory health care services	66	17.9	0.86×About typical	758	$72,708	77
Restaurants and other eating places	50	13.6	0.74×Fewer than typical	1,047	$18,698	4
Religious organizations	39	10.6	1.91×More than typical	259	$21,537	—
Insurance agencies and brokerages	36	9.8	2.22×More than typical	127	$60,110	47
Offices of other health practitioners	30	8.1	1.34×More than typical	96	$47,396	40
Automotive repair and maintenance	28	7.6	1.51×More than typical	93	$40,441	41
Building equipment contractors	28	7.6	1.26×More than typical	181	$72,928	30
Services to buildings and dwellings	28	7.6	1.13×About typical	108	$46,778	171
Truck transportation	28	7.6	1.50×More than typical	198	$51,434	103
Construction of buildings	27	7.3	0.97×About typical	105	$81,010	90
Lessors of real estate	26	7.1	0.57×Fewer than typical	83	$32,518	277

Rank places for an industry Open McLeod County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 36,861 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Lester Prairie, Minnesota: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0; −100% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

104.5FY2022
178.7FY2023
1.7KFY2025

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Lester Prairie, Minnesota, so they do not add up across cities.

Lester Prairie, Minnesota's figures are part of those of McLeod County, MN ($525.6K in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Lester Prairie is mostly in McLeod County.

See federal money in McLeod County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Lester Prairie, Minnesota is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Michelle FischbachR-MN-7 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 0.4%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

McLeod County96100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Hutchinson, MN94

Other cities and towns in McLeod County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/2736728