City · Winona County, Minnesota

Winona, Minnesota

Winona is a city in Winona County, Minnesota, part of the Winona, MN metro area. It has 26,009 residents. Winona, Minnesota has a quality-of-life score of 83 out of 100 (very high), ranking #2,663 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Minnesota it ranks #203 of 364 cities and towns. It ranks best on average commute time (low), median Air Quality Index (low) and mammography screening (high). It ranks worst on new business applications (low), hospital quality rating (low) and poverty rate (high).

83Very high

Quality-of-life score: #2,663 of 15,651 cities and towns
Minnesota: #203 of 364 in MN
Population: 26,009 (2020-2024)
Land area: 19 mi²
Density: 1,369.5 /mi²
FIPS code: 2771032

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.

Safety83#2,716/15,637
Economy22#12,267/15,631
Housing31#10,348/14,977
Health63#5,722/15,609
Healthcare56#6,907/15,650
Environment97#386/15,453
Education88#1,956/15,649
Infrastructure84#2,486/15,650
Community96#636/15,651
Leisure & amenities79#3,253/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Average commute time · low13.8 min
99/100Minnesota 22.7 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Median Air Quality Index · low20
98/1002024U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyWinona County value
Mammography screening · high59.0%
98/100Minnesota 54.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteWinona County value
Flu vaccinations · high57.0%
97/100Minnesota 50.0%United States 44.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteWinona County value
High school diploma or higher · high95.2%
96/100Minnesota 93.9%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Minnesota 2.9 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataWinona County value

Weaknesses

New business applications · low6.9 /1k
2/100Minnesota 12.7 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauWinona County value
Hospital quality rating · low2.0
9/100Minnesota 3.8United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesWinona County value
Poverty rate · high23.1%
9/100Minnesota 9.3%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Distance to an airport · high95 mi
11/100Minnesota 43 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauWinona County value
Pharmacies · low1.0 /10k
13/100Minnesota 1.7 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsWinona County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · high0.471
18/100Minnesota 0.452United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083

Trends

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

Child poverty rateWorsening
7.9% (2015-2019) → 18.6% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
83.1% (2015-2019) → 93.4% (2020-2024)
+10 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
51.1% (2015-2019) → 57.4% (2020-2024)
+6.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Poverty rateWorsening
17.8% (2015-2019) → 23.1% (2020-2024)
+5.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
New homes permittedWorsening
1.9 /1k (2021) → 1.5 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−22%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
30.7% (2015-2019) → 34.5% (2020-2024)
+3.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

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, Winona, Minnesota improved on 3 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 3. 8 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

Unemployment−1.9 points4.5% → 2.7%
Broadband+10 points83.1% → 93.4%
Household income+16%$48,677 → $56,337

Declined3

Child poverty+11 points7.9% → 18.6%
Poverty+5.3 points17.8% → 23.1%
Price / income+0.5×3.1× → 3.6×

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Winona, Minnesota between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	14.0 min2015-2019	13.8 min2020-2024	−0.2 min	Within the margin of error	50%
Bachelor's degree or higher	33.5%2015-2019	36.3%2020-2024	+2.7 points	Within the margin of error	49%
Broadband subscriptions	83.1%2015-2019	93.4%2020-2024	+10 points	Improved	61%
Child poverty rate	7.9%2015-2019	18.6%2020-2024	+11 points	Declined	11%
Effective property tax rate	1.03%2015-2019	0.96%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	28%
High school diploma or higher	93.6%2015-2019	95.2%2020-2024	+1.6 points	Within the margin of error	54%
Home price to income ratio	3.1×2015-2019	3.6×2020-2024	+0.5×	Declined	46%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4582015-2019	0.4712020-2024	+0.013	Within the margin of error	39%
Median household income	$48,6772015-2019	$56,3372020-2024	+16%	Improved	25%
Poverty rate	17.8%2015-2019	23.1%2020-2024	+5.3 points	Declined	12%
Rent as share of income	30.7%2015-2019	34.5%2020-2024	+3.8 points	Within the margin of error	28%
Rent-burdened households	51.1%2015-2019	57.4%2020-2024	+6.3 points	Within the margin of error	34%
Unemployment rate	4.5%2015-2019	2.7%2020-2024	−1.9 points	Improved	80%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	4.9%2015-2019	5.1%2020-2024	+0.2 points	Within the margin of error	44%

“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 Winona, Minnesota five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Winona, 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, Winona, Minnesota itself moved −3.5 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

26,009 residents (±57)

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

10,786 households (±319)

Winona, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Under $25k20%2,160
$25k–50k25%2,689
$50k–75k15%1,655

Homes

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

Owners and renters

10,786 households (±319)

Winona, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Own58%6,254
Rent42%4,532

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

14,492 workers (±551)

Winona, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Drive alone75%10,885
Carpool5.1%735
Public transit0.7%†95

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 Winona, 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 Winona County, the county holding most of Winona's residents.

Winona County has 1,145 employer establishments, 229 for every 10,000 residents (0.92× the US rate of 248; 0.85× Minnesota's), with 23,937 paid employees at an average annual pay of $48,167. The Census Bureau also counts 3,248 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,145; 3,248 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 229; US 248 · Minnesota 268
Paid employees: 23,937
Average annual pay: $48,167; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	84	16.8	1.09×About typical	531	$72,190	204
Restaurants and other eating places	78	15.6	0.85×About typical	1,317	$16,877	10
Ambulatory health care services	53	10.6	0.51×Fewer than typical	748	$50,307	89
Building equipment contractors	39	7.8	1.30×More than typical	408	$73,002	21
Full-service restaurants	37	7.4	0.97×About typical	491	$18,358	6
Religious organizations	35	7	1.26×More than typical	337	$22,914	—
Truck transportation	34	6.8	1.35×More than typical	203	$56,783	93
Limited-service restaurants	33	6.6	0.82×About typical	711	$16,319	—
Lessors of real estate	31	6.2	0.50×Fewer than typical	64	$31,828	333
Automotive repair and maintenance	30	6	1.19×About typical	107	$42,364	59
Drinking places (alcoholic beverages)	27	5.4	4.46×More than typical	311	$10,225	5
Amusement, gambling and recreation industries	26	5.2	1.96×More than typical	276	$14,772	33

Rank places for an industry Open Winona County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 49,904 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 $695.9K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Winona, Minnesota: $26.76 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $695.9K; −38% vs FY2025
Per resident: $26.76; US $1,994
Sole-source: 5.7%; US 30%
Single offer: 3.0%; 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

Defense Logistics Agency$548.6K79%
Department of Veterans Affairs$86.5K12%
Department of the Navy$43.2K6.2%
Department of the Air Force$16K2.3%
Federal Acquisition Service$5,3310.8%
Social Security Administration$4,5430.7%
Federal Aviation Administration$1,5920.2%
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service$9700.1%

Top recipients

PEERLESS CHAIN COMPANY$414.8K60%
MISSISSIPPI WELDERS SUPPLY COMPANY, INC.$153.8K22%
SAINT ANNE OF WINONA$86.5K12%
CYTEC ENGINEERED MATERIALS, INC.$34.1K4.9%
THERN INC$10.4K1.5%

Spending by fiscal year

211.8KFY2017
563.7KFY2018
785.8KFY2019
631.4KFY2020
1.1MFY2021
560.8KFY2022
599.9KFY2023
1.4M

Top industries (NAICS)

Aerospace product and parts manufacturing · 3364$410.8K59%
Other general purpose machinery manufacturing · 3339$143K21%
Nursing care facilities (skilled nursing facilities) · 6231$86.5K12%
Basic chemical manufacturing · 3251$34.1K4.9%
Commercial and service industry machinery manufacturing · 3333$16K2.3%
Other heavy and civil engineering construction · 2379

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

Winona, Minnesota's figures are part of those of Winona County, MN ($5.2M in FY2026), never added to them: 13% of that total.

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

See federal money in Winona 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.

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

House

Brad FinstadR-MN-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 100%Missed 0.9%

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.

Winona County94100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Winona, MN93

Other cities and towns in Winona 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/2771032

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends