City · Mille Lacs County, Minnesota

Princeton, Minnesota

Princeton is a city in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI metro area. It has 5,274 residents. Princeton, Minnesota has a quality-of-life score of 63 out of 100 (high), ranking #5,765 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Minnesota it ranks #335 of 364 cities and towns. It ranks best on time spent in the emergency room (low), social associations (high) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (low). It ranks worst on preventable hospital stays (high), average weekly wage (low) and injury deaths (high).

63High

Quality-of-life score: #5,765 of 15,651 cities and towns
Minnesota: #335 of 364 in MN
Population: 5,274 (2020-2024)
Land area: 5 mi²
Density: 1,055.3 /mi²
FIPS code: 2752522

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 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.

Safety61#6,072/15,637
Economy54#7,184/15,631
Housing62#5,685/14,977
Health30#10,955/15,609
Healthcare30#10,898/15,650
Environment98#305/15,453
Education58#6,537/15,649
Infrastructure39#9,554/15,650
Community94#997/15,651
Leisure & amenities48#8,122/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Princeton, Minnesota ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Mille Lacs 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

Time spent in the emergency room · low86 min
99/100Minnesota 134 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesMille Lacs County value
Social associations · high17.9 /10k
96/100Minnesota 12.2 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMille Lacs County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · low5.5 µg/m³
94/100Minnesota 6.3 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyMille Lacs County value
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Minnesota 2.9 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataMille Lacs County value
Restaurants and bars · high13.0 /10k
91/100Minnesota 8.6 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMille Lacs County value
Job growth · high2.3%
90/100Minnesota -0.3%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataMille Lacs County value

Weaknesses

Preventable hospital stays · high4,836 /100k
2/100Minnesota 2,419 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMille Lacs County value
Average weekly wage · low$935
9/100Minnesota $1,480United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMille Lacs County value
Injury deaths · high126 /100k
11/100Minnesota 81 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMille Lacs County value
Gyms and fitness centers · low0.4 /10k
12/100Minnesota 1.4 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMille Lacs County value
Flu vaccinations · low33.0%
13/100Minnesota 50.0%United States 44.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMille Lacs County value
Bachelor's degree or higher · low13.6%
14/100Minnesota 39.4%United States 35.7%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003

Trends

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

PopulationRising
4,709 (2015-2019) → 5,274 (2020-2024)
+12%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Child poverty rateImproving
23.0% (2015-2019) → 4.1% (2020-2024)
−19 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
New homes permittedWorsening
24.2 /1k (2021) → 1.5 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−94%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
69.4% (2015-2019) → 87.2% (2020-2024)
+18 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$36,201 (2015-2019) → $62,219 (2020-2024)
+72%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Poverty rateImproving
17.1% (2015-2019) → 8.5% (2020-2024)
−8.6 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, Princeton, 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

Household income+72%$36,201 → $62,219
Poverty−8.6 points17.1% → 8.5%
Broadband+18 points69.4% → 87.2%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Princeton, Minnesota between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	27.7 min2015-2019	25.8 min2020-2024	−1.8 min	Within the margin of error	69%
Bachelor's degree or higher	10.0%2015-2019	13.6%2020-2024	+3.6 points	Within the margin of error	57%
Broadband subscriptions	69.4%2015-2019	87.2%2020-2024	+18 points	Improved	86%
Effective property tax rate	1.31%2015-2019	1.31%2020-2024	−0 points	Within the margin of error	17%
High school diploma or higher	87.8%2015-2019	89.4%2020-2024	+1.5 points	Within the margin of error	53%
Home price to income ratio	3.9×2015-2019	3.5×2020-2024	−0.4×	Within the margin of error	92%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4672015-2019	0.4392020-2024	−0.028	Within the margin of error	73%
Median household income	$36,2012015-2019	$62,2192020-2024	+72%	Improved	95%
Poverty rate	17.1%2015-2019	8.5%2020-2024	−8.6 points	Improved	90%
Rent as share of income	28.0%2015-2019	26.5%2020-2024	−1.5 points	Within the margin of error	66%
Rent-burdened households	38.1%2015-2019	39.7%2020-2024	+1.6 points	Within the margin of error	50%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	6.0%2015-2019	6.4%2020-2024	+0.4 points	Within the margin of error	42%

“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 Princeton, Minnesota five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Princeton, 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, Princeton, Minnesota itself moved +9.1 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

5,274 residents (±216)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

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

Household income

2,039 households (±146)

Princeton, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Under $25k18%†376
$25k–50k24%†493
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,039 households (±146)

Princeton, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Own62%1,267
Rent38%772

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

2,611 workers (±356)

Princeton, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Drive alone83%2,175
Carpool9.9%†259
Public transit1.0%†27

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 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI

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 Mille Lacs County, the county holding most of Princeton's residents.

Mille Lacs County has 742 employer establishments, 270 for every 10,000 residents (1.09× the US rate of 248; 1.01× Minnesota's), with 8,011 paid employees at an average annual pay of $47,006. The Census Bureau also counts 1,883 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 742; 1,883 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 270; US 248 · Minnesota 268
Paid employees: 8,011
Average annual pay: $47,006; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	105	38.2	2.47×More than typical	302	$71,914	251
Restaurants and other eating places	45	16.4	0.89×About typical	717	$19,020	6
Ambulatory health care services	40	14.6	0.70×Fewer than typical	537	$48,762	54
Truck transportation	32	11.7	2.30×More than typical	46	$47,957	79
Building finishing contractors	30	10.9	2.87×More than typical	96	$65,938	90
Full-service restaurants	30	10.9	1.42×More than typical	436	$20,693	—
Religious organizations	30	10.9	1.97×More than typical	150	$18,987	—
Construction of buildings	27	9.8	1.30×More than typical	62	$55,597	99
Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors	27	9.8	3.12×More than typical	63	$65,127	45
Building equipment contractors	26	9.5	1.57×More than typical	97	$71,258	25
Lessors of real estate	24	8.7	0.71×Fewer than typical	52	$28,577	149
Other specialty trade contractors	22	8	3.19×More than typical	46	$95,065	91

Rank places for an industry Open Mille Lacs County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 27,466 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 -$7,301 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Princeton, Minnesota: -$1.38 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: -$7,301
Per resident: -$1.38; 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

HEARTLAND AUTO ELECTRIC, INC-$7,3010.0%

Spending by fiscal year

7.4KFY2017
10.2KFY2018
11.5KFY2019
4.9KFY2020
23.9KFY2021
11.3KFY2022
23KFY2023
87.2KFY2024
-29.7KFY2025
-7.3KFY2026

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 Princeton, Minnesota, so they do not add up across cities.

Princeton, Minnesota's figures are part of those of Mille Lacs County, MN and Sherburne County, MN ($10M 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: Princeton is mostly in Mille Lacs County.

See federal money in Mille Lacs 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.

Princeton, Minnesota is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

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

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI93

Other cities and towns in Mille Lacs 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/2752522

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends