City · Redwood County, Minnesota

Redwood Falls, Minnesota

Redwood Falls is a city in Redwood County, Minnesota. It has 5,068 residents. Redwood Falls, Minnesota has a quality-of-life score of 79 out of 100 (high), ranking #3,241 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Minnesota it ranks #249 of 364 cities and towns. It ranks best on preventable hospital stays (low), social associations (high) and average commute time (low). It ranks worst on mental health care shortage (high), job growth (low) and mental health providers (low).

79High

Quality-of-life score: #3,241 of 15,651 cities and towns
Minnesota: #249 of 364 in MN
Population: 5,068 (2020-2024)
Land area: 5 mi²
Density: 959.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 2753656

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 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.

Safety90#1,529/15,637
Economy30#10,896/15,631
Housing62#5,672/14,977
Health60#6,305/15,609
Healthcare33#10,440/15,650
Environment93#1,072/15,453
Education72#4,385/15,649
Infrastructure66#5,357/15,650
Community80#3,088/15,651
Leisure & amenities89#1,721/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Preventable hospital stays · low1,213 /100k
99/100Minnesota 2,419 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRedwood County value
Social associations · high20.9 /10k
98/100Minnesota 12.2 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRedwood County value
Average commute time · low13.5 min
97/100Minnesota 22.7 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Grocery stores · high3.3 /10k
96/100Minnesota 1.6 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsRedwood County value
Mammography screening · high57.0%
96/100Minnesota 54.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRedwood County value
Restaurants and bars · high15.1 /10k
95/100Minnesota 8.6 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsRedwood County value

Weaknesses

Mental health care shortage · high19.0
3/100Minnesota 7.5United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationRedwood County value
Job growth · low-3.0%
7/100Minnesota -0.3%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataRedwood County value
Mental health providers · low59 /100k
7/100Minnesota 383 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRedwood County value
Access to exercise opportunities · low45.8%
8/100Minnesota 86.4%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRedwood County value
New business applications · low8.4 /1k
9/100Minnesota 12.7 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauRedwood County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high93 mi
11/100Minnesota 32 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauRedwood County value

Trends

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

New homes permittedWorsening
1.4 /1k (2021) → 0.2 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−86%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
75.7% (2015-2019) → 90.7% (2020-2024)
+15 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateWorsening
10.4% (2015-2019) → 18.5% (2020-2024)
+8.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.0× (2015-2019) → 2.6× (2020-2024)
+29%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Poverty rateWorsening
12.0% (2015-2019) → 17.2% (2020-2024)
+5.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
19.4% (2015-2019) → 24.3% (2020-2024)
+4.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%

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, Redwood Falls, Minnesota improved on 2 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 11 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.

Improved2

Uninsured−4 points8.9% → 5.0%
Broadband+15 points75.7% → 90.7%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Redwood Falls, Minnesota between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	14.6 min2015-2019	13.5 min2020-2024	−1.1 min	Within the margin of error	61%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.4%2015-2019	24.3%2020-2024	+4.8 points	Within the margin of error	66%
Broadband subscriptions	75.7%2015-2019	90.7%2020-2024	+15 points	Improved	80%
Child poverty rate	10.4%2015-2019	18.5%2020-2024	+8.1 points	Within the margin of error	14%
Effective property tax rate	0.79%2015-2019	0.85%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	9%
High school diploma or higher	90.9%2015-2019	93.4%2020-2024	+2.5 points	Within the margin of error	64%
Home price to income ratio	2.0×2015-2019	2.6×2020-2024	+0.6×	Within the margin of error	42%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4062015-2019	0.4442020-2024	+0.037	Within the margin of error	22%
Median household income	$51,2322015-2019	$61,7502020-2024	+21%	Within the margin of error	34%
Poverty rate	12.0%2015-2019	17.2%2020-2024	+5.2 points	Within the margin of error	12%
Rent as share of income	26.3%2015-2019	27.6%2020-2024	+1.3 points	Within the margin of error	45%
Rent-burdened households	43.9%2015-2019	47.1%2020-2024	+3.2 points	Within the margin of error	44%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	8.9%2015-2019	5.0%2020-2024	−4 points	Improved	82%

“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 Redwood Falls, Minnesota five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Redwood Falls, 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, Redwood Falls, Minnesota itself moved −3.9 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

5,068 residents (±46)

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

2,197 households (±108)

Redwood Falls, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Under $25k21%468
$25k–50k25%544
$50k–75k14%317

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,197 households (±108)

Redwood Falls, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Own68%1,501
Rent32%696

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

2,190 workers (±205)

Redwood Falls, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Drive alone84%1,850
Carpool3.5%†76
Public transit2.1%†45

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 Redwood County, the county holding most of Redwood Falls's residents.

Redwood County has 509 employer establishments, 332 for every 10,000 residents (1.34× the US rate of 248; 1.24× Minnesota's), with 5,143 paid employees at an average annual pay of $48,134. The Census Bureau also counts 1,131 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 509; 1,131 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 332; US 248 · Minnesota 268
Paid employees: 5,143
Average annual pay: $48,134; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	34	22.2	1.43×More than typical	122	$58,270	77
Truck transportation	33	21.5	4.26×More than typical	131	$51,481	63
Construction of buildings	30	19.6	2.59×More than typical	263	$54,148	29
Religious organizations	24	15.7	2.82×More than typical	126	$18,873	—
Building equipment contractors	17	11.1	1.84×More than typical	72	$48,694	12
Restaurants and other eating places	17	11.1	0.60×Fewer than typical	232	$18,819	3
Automotive repair and maintenance	16	10.4	2.07×More than typical	56	$42,661	36
Ambulatory health care services	15	9.8	0.47×Fewer than typical	130	$35,500	23
Insurance agencies and brokerages	14	9.1	2.08×More than typical	47	$38,064	33
Banks and credit unions	13	8.5	2.63×More than typical	98	$61,888	—
Full-service restaurants	12	7.8	1.02×About typical	129	$20,031	3
Lessors of real estate	12	7.8	0.64×Fewer than typical	23	$26,087	141

Rank places for an industry Open Redwood County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 15,326 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 $4,236 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Redwood Falls, Minnesota: $0.84 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $4,236; +0.1% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0.84; US $1,995
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 4.2%; 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

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service$3,88192%
Federal Prison System / Bureau of Prisons$3558.4%

Top recipients

FARMERS UNION INDUSTRIES, LLC$4,236100.0%

Spending by fiscal year

29.1KFY2017
13.4KFY2018
7.5KFY2019
5.9KFY2020
3.7KFY2021
5.5KFY2022
4.4KFY2023
367.5FY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Other support services · 5619$3,88192%
Other professional, scientific, and technical services · 5419$3558.4%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 7, 2026, loaded Oct 7, 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 Redwood Falls, Minnesota, so they do not add up across cities.

Redwood Falls, Minnesota's figures are part of those of Redwood County, MN ($768.7K in FY2026), never added to them: 0.6% of that total.

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

See federal money in Redwood 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.

Redwood Falls, 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.

Redwood County91100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Redwood 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/2753656

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends