City · Pennington County, Minnesota

Thief River Falls, Minnesota

Thief River Falls is a city in Pennington County, Minnesota. It has 8,823 residents. Thief River Falls, Minnesota has a quality-of-life score of 84 out of 100 (very high), ranking #2,547 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Minnesota it ranks #194 of 364 cities and towns. It ranks best on preventable hospital stays (low), average commute time (low) and mammography screening (high). It ranks worst on natural hazard risk (high), pharmacies (low) and new business applications (low).

84Very high

Quality-of-life score: #2,547 of 15,651 cities and towns
Minnesota: #194 of 364 in MN
Population: 8,823 (2020-2024)
Land area: 6 mi²
Density: 1,469.8 /mi²
FIPS code: 2764570

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.

Safety79#3,330/15,637
Economy45#8,556/15,631
Housing95#705/14,977
Health57#6,780/15,609
Healthcare75#3,850/15,650
Environment84#2,448/15,453
Education70#4,716/15,649
Infrastructure43#8,872/15,650
Community79#3,286/15,651
Leisure & amenities75#3,870/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Thief River Falls, Minnesota ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Pennington 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 · low648 /100k
100/100Minnesota 2,419 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePennington County value
Average commute time · low10.2 min
100/100Minnesota 22.7 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Mammography screening · high58.0%
97/100Minnesota 54.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePennington County value
Time spent in the emergency room · low107 min
94/100Minnesota 134 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesPennington County value
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Minnesota 2.9 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataPennington County value
High school diploma or higher · high94.6%
94/100Minnesota 93.9%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003

Weaknesses

Natural hazard risk · high98.6
2/100Minnesota 27.82025Federal Emergency Management AgencyPennington County value
Pharmacies · low0.7 /10k
7/100Minnesota 1.7 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPennington County value
New business applications · low8.0 /1k
7/100Minnesota 12.7 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauPennington County value
Distance to an airport · high88 mi
14/100Minnesota 43 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauPennington County value
Adult obesity · high41.0%
17/100Minnesota 37.1%United States 38.2%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Broadband subscriptions · low87.0%
19/100Minnesota 91.6%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002

Trends

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

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
77.3% (2015-2019) → 87.0% (2020-2024)
+9.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$49,790 (2015-2019) → $71,144 (2020-2024)
+43%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Child poverty rateImproving
25.0% (2015-2019) → 16.4% (2020-2024)
−8.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Uninsured residents (under 65)Worsening
2.4% (2015-2019) → 5.9% (2020-2024)
+3.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
39.1% (2015-2019) → 36.4% (2020-2024)
−2.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Average commute timeImproving
11.8 min (2015-2019) → 10.2 min (2020-2024)
−14%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min

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, Thief River Falls, Minnesota improved on 2 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 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

Household income+43%$49,790 → $71,144
Broadband+9.7 points77.3% → 87.0%

Declined1

Uninsured+3.5 points2.4% → 5.9%

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Thief River Falls, Minnesota between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	11.8 min2015-2019	10.2 min2020-2024	−1.6 min	Within the margin of error	67%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.7%2015-2019	21.2%2020-2024	+1.5 points	Within the margin of error	38%
Broadband subscriptions	77.3%2015-2019	87.0%2020-2024	+9.7 points	Improved	58%
Child poverty rate	25.0%2015-2019	16.4%2020-2024	−8.6 points	Within the margin of error	79%
Effective property tax rate	0.92%2015-2019	1.28%2020-2024	+0.4 points	Within the margin of error	1%
High school diploma or higher	92.3%2015-2019	94.6%2020-2024	+2.3 points	Within the margin of error	62%
Home price to income ratio	2.7×2015-2019	2.5×2020-2024	−0.3×	Within the margin of error	88%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4092015-2019	0.4182020-2024	+0.008	Within the margin of error	43%
Median household income	$49,7902015-2019	$71,1442020-2024	+43%	Improved	78%
Poverty rate	13.5%2015-2019	12.2%2020-2024	−1.4 points	Within the margin of error	57%
Rent as share of income	25.7%2015-2019	25.5%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	57%
Rent-burdened households	39.1%2015-2019	36.4%2020-2024	−2.8 points	Within the margin of error	66%
Unemployment rate	1.9%2015-2019	2.7%2020-2024	+0.8 points	Within the margin of error	32%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	2.4%2015-2019	5.9%2020-2024	+3.5 points	Declined	16%

“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 Thief River Falls, Minnesota five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Thief River 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, Thief River Falls, Minnesota itself moved +0.4 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

8,823 residents (±31)

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

4,198 households (±161)

Thief River Falls, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Under $25k15%642
$25k–50k20%855
$50k–75k17%725

Homes

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

Owners and renters

4,198 households (±161)

Thief River Falls, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Own64%2,675
Rent36%1,523

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

4,770 workers (±206)

Thief River Falls, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Drive alone75%3,569
Carpool9.9%471
Public transit0.4%†18

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 Pennington County, the county holding most of Thief River Falls's residents.

Pennington County has 365 employer establishments, 266 for every 10,000 residents (1.07× the US rate of 248; 0.99× Minnesota's), with 8,929 paid employees at an average annual pay of $60,263. The Census Bureau also counts 842 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 365; 842 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 266; US 248 · Minnesota 268
Paid employees: 8,929
Average annual pay: $60,263; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	22	16	0.87×About typical	341	$17,601	7
Ambulatory health care services	20	14.6	0.70×Fewer than typical	75	$61,387	21
Specialty trade contractors	17	12.4	0.80×Fewer than typical	91	$73,890	52
Construction of buildings	12	8.7	1.16×About typical	32	$64,438	19
Full-service restaurants	12	8.7	1.14×About typical	136	$17,412	4
Gasoline stations	11	8	2.47×More than typical	164	$21,457	—
Offices of other health practitioners	11	8	1.32×More than typical	32	$68,719	12
Religious organizations	11	8	1.44×More than typical	92	$18,620	—
Insurance agencies and brokerages	10	7.3	1.66×More than typical	56	$68,071	15
Automotive repair and maintenance	9	6.6	1.30×Too few to compare	19	$51,158	25
Building equipment contractors	9	6.6	1.09×Too few to compare	69	$57,899	10
Lessors of real estate	9	6.6	0.53×Too few to compare	16	$18,438	89

Rank places for an industry Open Pennington County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 13,734 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 $3,366 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Thief River Falls, Minnesota: $0.38 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $3,366
Per resident: $0.38; US $1,994
Sole-source: 27%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; 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

Department of the Navy$2,52875%
Forest Service$48514%
National Aeronautics and Space Administration$36711%

Top recipients

DIGI-KEY CORP$3,366100%

Spending by fiscal year

2.2KFY2017
8.3KFY2018
6.6KFY2019
17.6KFY2020
14.5KFY2021
21.1KFY2022
19.4KFY2023
12.6KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Other electrical equipment and component manufacturing · 3359$1,96958%
Semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing · 3344$85225%
Scientific research and development services · 5417$55917%

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 Thief River Falls, Minnesota, so they do not add up across cities.

Thief River Falls, Minnesota's figures are part of those of Pennington County, MN ($161.8K in FY2026), never added to them: 2.1% of that total.

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

See federal money in Pennington 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.

Thief River 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.

Pennington County94100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Pennington 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/2764570

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends