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Editor: Katerine G., Editor & Data Researcher · Research & publishing: Electric Consumer Editorial Team · Data retrieved · Sources named on this page: EIA-861, Census ACS, DOE LEAD, FEMA National Risk Index, OpenFEMA NFIP · How we got these numbers · Report an error

Counties in Minnesota ranked

6.7%of income goes to home energy in Renville County, the highest of 86 Minnesota counties

Hennepin County is lowest at 1.5%, a gap of 4.6 times. The median Minnesota county sits at 3.9%, against 3.3% for the median U.S. county. Source for Minnesota: DOE LEAD 2022.

Minnesota county map

Minnesota counties, shaded by quintile of the selected measureBrown County: 5.0%Kandiyohi County: 3.2%Murray County: 5.5%Nobles County: 3.8%Dodge County: 2.7%Todd County: 4.6%Isanti County: 3.3%Cottonwood County: 4.5%Lyon County: 3.0%Waseca County: 3.3%Pipestone County: 4.5%Rock County: 4.8%Cook County: 5.0%Steele County: 2.4%Grant County: 4.8%Watonwan County: 4.6%Mahnomen County: 5.6%Polk County: 4.9%Roseau County: 5.7%Cass County: 4.3%Otter Tail County: 3.3%Freeborn County: 3.6%McLeod County: 3.7%Le Sueur County: 3.1%Martin County: 4.2%Renville County: 6.7%Becker County: 4.1%Douglas County: 2.9%Hubbard County: 4.3%Olmsted County: 1.9%Chippewa County: 4.6%Redwood County: 5.6%Swift County: 4.1%Morrison County: 3.5%Benton County: 2.6%Stevens County: 3.2%Crow Wing County: 3.2%Pennington County: 5.0%St. Louis County: 3.3%Kanabec County: 5.0%Norman County: 4.7%Fillmore County: 3.7%Clay County: 2.7%Jackson County: 4.3%Chisago County: 2.6%Lake County: 4.5%Anoka County: 1.9%Carver County: 1.8%Lac qui Parle County: 3.3%Traverse County: 6.5%Winona County: 3.1%Wadena County: 5.0%Dakota County: 1.7%Houston County: 3.5%Wilkin County: 3.8%Clearwater County: 5.4%Koochiching County: 4.3%Aitkin County: 5.4%Blue Earth County: 2.5%Rice County: 2.6%Sherburne County: 2.1%Marshall County: 5.2%Wabasha County: 3.6%Yellow Medicine County: 4.0%Sibley County: 4.6%Lake of the Woods County: no page, no dataMeeker County: 4.5%Hennepin County: 1.5%Scott County: 1.7%Pope County: 3.8%Beltrami County: 4.2%Itasca County: 4.3%Ramsey County: 1.9%Mower County: 3.0%Nicollet County: 3.3%Red Lake County: 4.5%Faribault County: 4.5%Wright County: 2.3%Lincoln County: 4.5%Big Stone County: 4.7%Goodhue County: 3.1%Stearns County: 2.8%Pine County: 4.4%Kittson County: 6.0%Mille Lacs County: 4.1%Washington County: 1.8%Carlton County: 3.7%
  • 1.5% to 2.8%
  • 2.8% to 3.5%
  • 3.5% to 4.3%
  • 4.3% to 4.8%
  • 4.8% to 6.7%

Minnesota counties, darker = higher. Click one for its page.

Highest energy burden in Minnesota

Renville County leads Minnesota on burden at 6.7% of income and Traverse County follows at 6.5%. For lower-income homes the top is Traverse County: 17.4% of income, against 9.9% in the median Minnesota county.

home energy burden, % of income, top 10 Minnesota counties

  • Renville County6.7
  • Traverse County6.5
  • Kittson County6.0
  • Roseau County5.7
  • Mahnomen County5.6
  • Redwood County5.6
  • Murray County5.5
  • Clearwater County5.4
  • Aitkin County5.4
  • Marshall County5.2
  • Minnesota median county3.9
Minnesota counties with the lowest home energy burden
Lowest burden in MinnesotaShare of income (MN)Residents (MN)
Hennepin County1.5%1,268,903
Dakota County1.7%442,204
Scott County1.7%152,957
Carver County1.8%108,622
Washington County1.8%272,298

Storm reports and FEMA risk in Minnesota

NOAA logged 141 damaging-wind, tornado, tropical, ice, winter and heat reports in Cook County from 2015 to 2025, 2,503 for every 100,000 residents: the most in Minnesota. FEMA scores Hennepin County highest at 98.3 (relatively high). In Minnesota these are weather reports and an index, not outage counts.

Minnesota top 5: Storm reports per 100,000 residents
Top 5 in Minnesotareports 2015-2025 (MN)Residents (MN)Rank (MN)
Cook County2,5035,6331st
Big Stone County2,1165,1522nd
Wilkin County2,1056,4133rd
Norman County2,0286,4114th
Marshall County1,8978,9615th
Minnesota top 5: FEMA risk score
Top 5 in Minnesotascore 0-100 (MN)Residents (MN)Rank (MN)
Hennepin County98.31,268,9031st
Ramsey County94.6544,4382nd
St. Louis County91.6200,0563rd
Dakota County89.5442,2044th
Anoka County88.0367,0955th

Flood claims and flood insurance in Minnesota

Cottonwood County has the most NFIP flood claims per 1,000 homes in Minnesota: 4.0 from 2015 to 2025, against 0.6 in the median Minnesota county. Norman County has the highest share of homes with flood insurance (1.4%, median county 0.2%). Claims are a record of insured losses, not outage counts.

Minnesota top 5: Flood claims per 1,000 homes
Top 5 in Minnesotaclaims 2015-2025 (MN)Residents (MN)Rank (MN)
Cottonwood County4.011,4581st
Le Sueur County3.228,9362nd
Traverse County2.23,2793rd
Goodhue County2.047,8444th
Nobles County1.722,0675th
Minnesota top 5: Flood insurance penetration
Top 5 in Minnesota% of homes insured (MN)Residents (MN)Rank (MN)
Norman County1.4%6,4111st
Big Stone County1.0%5,1522nd
Traverse County1.0%3,2793rd
Wilkin County0.9%6,4134th
Cottonwood County0.8%11,4585th

FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP, as of 8 Sep 2026. Flood claims by county.

Outliers: Minnesota counties far from the state median

10 county-measure pairs sit 3 or more scaled median-absolute-deviation units from the Minnesota median. Most extreme: Cook County, storm reports per 100,000 residents 2,503 against a median of 434.

Minnesota outliers by deviation from the state median
CountyMeasureValueMinnesota medianDeviations
Cook CountyStorm reports per 100,000 residents2,503434+6.6
Norman CountyFlood insurance penetration1.4%0.2%+6.2
Big Stone CountyStorm reports per 100,000 residents2,116434+5.4
Wilkin CountyStorm reports per 100,000 residents2,105434+5.4
Cottonwood CountyFlood claims per 1,000 homes4.00.6+5.2
Norman CountyStorm reports per 100,000 residents2,028434+5.1
Marshall CountyStorm reports per 100,000 residents1,897434+4.7
Lincoln CountyStorm reports per 100,000 residents1,770434+4.3
Grant CountyStorm reports per 100,000 residents1,735434+4.2
Big Stone CountyFlood insurance penetration1.0%0.2%+4.0

Old homes, electric heat and utilities in Minnesota

Faribault County has the oldest stock: 87% of homes date from before 1980. Electric heat is most common in Clay County at 34% of homes, and Todd County lists 7 utilities, the most in Minnesota.

Minnesota top 5: Homes built before 1980
Top 5 in Minnesota% of homes (MN)Residents (MN)Rank (MN)
Faribault County87%13,9091st
Jackson County81%9,9642nd
Pipestone County80%9,3523rd
Lac qui Parle County80%6,6944th
Cottonwood County79%11,4585th
Minnesota top 5: Homes heated by electricity
Top 5 in Minnesota% of homes (MN)Residents (MN)Rank (MN)
Clay County34%65,6281st
Lyon County34%25,4982nd
Cook County30%5,6333rd
Wadena County28%14,1354th
Stearns County28%159,3585th

Find your Minnesota county

  • Pick a Minnesota county to see its ranks.

All 86 Minnesota counties, sortable

86 Minnesota counties, all measures
Aitkin County15,9305.4%13.8%1,04256.648%17%4no data0.5%166
Anoka County367,0951.9%5.7%2488.041%12%30.20.2%88
Becker County35,2604.1%11.4%48537.450%28%4no data0.0%171
Beltrami County46,4214.2%12.0%40760.643%28%2no data0.0%189
Benton County41,4582.6%5.9%9651.342%26%3no data0.5%40
Big Stone County5,1524.7%11.9%2,1168.577%19%2no data1.0%109
Blue Earth County69,3862.5%6.3%14772.253%18%61.30.2%102
Brown County25,8265.0%11.5%43450.470%16%20.40.2%112
Carlton County36,4573.7%10.1%32470.159%17%2no data0.2%118
Carver County108,6221.8%7.2%9959.725%14%4no data0.2%108
Cass County30,6884.3%11.9%65553.537%24%6no data0.0%201
Chippewa County12,3884.6%11.1%63837.079%22%40.90.1%79
Chisago County57,4342.6%8.2%12044.536%12%30.20.1%69
Clay County65,6282.7%6.4%24773.750%34%50.20.7%162
Clearwater County8,5795.4%14.5%1,2474.250%21%4no datano data107
Cook County5,6335.0%12.6%2,50311.243%30%1no data0.2%141
Cottonwood County11,4584.5%11.9%1,23127.779%12%24.00.8%141
Crow Wing County67,1133.2%8.6%28877.539%21%40.20.2%193
Dakota County442,2041.7%5.2%2689.535%16%30.30.1%117
Dodge County20,9622.7%7.3%45814.251%10%40.60.3%96
Douglas County39,3542.9%7.8%22444.344%24%6no data0.1%88
Faribault County13,9094.5%11.9%43945.587%11%60.60.1%61
Fillmore County21,3463.7%9.2%61449.864%10%30.50.5%131
Freeborn County30,7523.6%8.5%32851.079%13%40.50.1%101
Goodhue County47,8443.1%8.5%23243.359%17%32.00.4%111
Grant County6,1084.8%12.4%1,7353.066%27%3no data0.0%106
Hennepin County1,268,9031.5%5.3%1698.360%20%60.20.2%200
Houston County18,7683.5%9.7%33029.564%11%20.60.3%62
Hubbard County21,7004.3%11.4%53035.243%27%3no data0.0%115
Isanti County41,9343.3%8.8%12426.943%11%2no data0.3%52
Itasca County45,1414.3%11.4%40876.753%17%3no data0.1%184
Jackson County9,9644.3%10.9%95322.481%12%21.10.3%95
Kanabec County16,2615.0%12.5%24621.346%11%11.00.1%40
Kandiyohi County43,7573.2%7.5%23151.455%21%6no data0.1%101
Kittson County4,1636.0%15.1%under 5,000 residents4.871%27%1no data0.7%101
Koochiching County11,9504.3%11.2%41031.564%17%31.10.3%49
Lac qui Parle County6,6943.3%8.9%1,28518.880%27%3no data0.1%86
Lake County10,9114.5%12.7%1,32033.965%14%2no data0.1%144
Le Sueur County28,9363.1%8.6%30122.860%10%43.20.7%87
Lincoln County5,5944.5%12.6%1,77018.276%24%4no data0.0%99
Lyon County25,4983.0%7.5%62043.564%34%40.50.3%158
Mahnomen County5,3715.6%14.0%1,3787.158%27%2no data0.1%74
Marshall County8,9615.2%13.5%1,89723.668%24%11.70.5%170
Martin County19,8644.2%10.5%37345.579%16%2no datano data74
McLeod County36,7713.7%9.3%28046.651%19%5no data0.2%103
Meeker County23,4224.5%11.6%28627.059%23%3no data0.3%67
Mille Lacs County26,9124.1%9.6%19028.548%12%3no data0.4%51
Morrison County34,1313.5%9.1%22966.953%13%41.50.2%78
Mower County40,0693.0%6.5%28267.375%17%60.70.4%113
Murray County8,1195.5%15.6%1,65019.870%12%41.10.3%134
Nicollet County34,3503.3%8.7%23945.452%17%20.70.2%82
Nobles County22,0673.8%8.5%57650.272%15%41.70.2%127
Norman County6,4114.7%12.3%2,02814.476%26%2no data1.4%130
Olmsted County163,4251.9%5.8%9282.342%18%50.40.3%150
Otter Tail County60,2813.3%8.8%48379.453%28%40.10.0%291
Pennington County13,8775.0%12.3%51947.060%24%1no data0.1%72
Pine County29,4114.4%11.1%30962.245%12%51.50.5%91
Pipestone County9,3524.5%12.3%1,04814.780%17%2no data0.1%98
Polk County30,9054.9%12.5%93867.066%25%31.60.5%290
Pope County11,3633.8%10.7%63420.562%15%5no data0.1%72
Ramsey County544,4381.9%5.2%1694.670%24%20.10.1%89
Red Lake County3,9224.5%12.5%under 5,000 residents2.269%28%1no datano data59
Redwood County15,3835.6%14.1%46235.172%22%4no data0.1%71
Renville County14,5876.7%16.1%65138.577%21%3no data0.0%95
Rice County67,3892.6%6.7%15075.454%18%41.00.3%101
Rock County9,6284.8%13.7%1,2989.477%25%2no data0.3%125
Roseau County15,3015.7%14.1%51643.948%26%1no data0.5%79
Scott County152,9571.7%5.8%7376.624%13%40.10.2%112
Sherburne County99,1782.1%5.5%6453.626%15%50.60.3%63
Sibley County14,9334.6%11.9%54223.070%13%3no data0.0%81
St. Louis County200,0563.3%9.2%26891.671%18%20.10.3%537
Stearns County159,3582.8%6.8%9287.645%28%60.30.2%146
Steele County37,4132.4%6.2%19537.260%15%41.00.4%73
Stevens County9,6863.2%8.0%7237.067%25%3no data0.1%70
Swift County9,7874.1%10.6%93025.170%22%3no data0.1%91
Todd County25,4024.6%10.6%26837.760%18%7no data0.3%68
Traverse County3,2796.5%17.4%under 5,000 residents6.270%27%12.21.0%80
Wabasha County21,5193.6%9.2%46045.554%12%21.50.5%99
Wadena County14,1355.0%10.6%55912.959%28%3no data0.2%79
Waseca County18,9583.3%7.3%49124.769%12%30.60.1%93
Washington County272,2981.8%5.6%2983.932%15%30.60.3%80
Watonwan County11,1694.6%11.3%54623.973%15%31.60.0%61
Wilkin County6,4133.8%8.8%2,1055.369%28%3no data0.9%135
Winona County49,7053.1%7.1%23169.562%25%3no data0.5%115
Wright County145,2702.3%7.1%7668.431%14%40.10.2%110
Yellow Medicine County9,5094.0%9.8%93630.079%20%31.00.2%89

Download CSV, 86 rows

Minnesota: click a header to sort. Per-capita storm rates start at 5,000 residents.

Sources

Minnesota sources with periods and retrieval dates
SourcePeriodRetrieved
DOE LEAD (MN)20222 Oct 2026
FEMA NRI (MN)Dec 20252 Oct 2026
NOAA Storm Events (MN)2015 to 20252 Oct 2026
Census ACS (MN)2019 to 20232 Oct 2026
EIA-861 (MN)20241 Oct 2026

Minnesota LEAD figures are group estimates, not bills. Methodology.

Keep going

Other states: Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire.

Questions

Which Minnesota county has the highest home energy burden?

Renville County: 6.7% of income, against 3.9% for the median Minnesota county (DOE LEAD 2022).

Which Minnesota county has the lowest energy burden?

Hennepin County at 1.5% of income.

How does Minnesota compare with the whole country?

The median Minnesota county has a burden of 3.9% and the median U.S. county 3.3%, across 86 Minnesota counties and 3,053 U.S. counties with data.

Where do storms cause the most trouble in Minnesota?

Cook County has the most NOAA storm reports per 100,000 residents: 2,503 between 2015 and 2025.

Which Minnesota county has the highest FEMA risk score?

Hennepin County: 98.3, rated relatively high by FEMA (Dec 2025).

Where are the oldest homes in Minnesota?

Faribault County: 87% of homes were built before 1980; the median Minnesota county is at 60% (Census ACS 2023).

Which Minnesota county relies most on electric heat?

Clay County: 34% of homes heat with electricity, against 18% in the median county.

Which Minnesota county has the most flood claims per home?

Cottonwood County: 4.0 NFIP claims per 1,000 homes from 2015 to 2025; the median Minnesota county has 0.6 (FEMA OpenFEMA).

Are storm reports the same as power outages in Minnesota?

No: in Minnesota they are weather reports, not outage counts.

Where can Minnesota households get help with bills?

See the Minnesota help page. Highest burden: Renville County.

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6.7% of income goes to home energy in Renville County, the highest of 86 Minnesota counties