Electric Consumer

Editor: Katerine G., Editor & Data Researcher · Research & publishing: Electric Consumer Editorial Team · Data retrieved · Sources named on this page: EIA, Census Bureau · How we got these numbers · Report an error

Who heats with electricity where it is cold in Minnesota?

430,264homes in Minnesota heat mainly with electricity in counties that are cold in a normal year

All 87 Minnesota counties average at least 4,000 heating degree days in a normal year, and 19% of the 2,282,967 occupied homes heat mainly with electricity. Rank 16 of 35 by count, 20 by share. Hennepin County holds the most: 105,801 electric-heated homes at 7,861 heating degree days.

Where Minnesota sits among the states

Share of homes that heat with electricity in cold counties, by state, one tile per stateAlaska: no data in this seriesAKMaine: 10.1% of homesMEVermont: 8.1% of homesVTNew Hampshire: 10.7% of homesNHWashington: 57.7% of homesWAIdaho: 35.0% of homesIDMontana: 26.6% of homesMTNorth Dakota: 39.9% of homesNDMinnesota: 18.8% of homesMNIllinois: 18.2% of homesILWisconsin: 17.3% of homesWIMichigan: 11.6% of homesMINew York: 14.4% of homesNYRhode Island: 12.1% of homesRIMassachusetts: 17.9% of homesMAOregon: 53.1% of homesORNevada: 8.7% of homesNVWyoming: 23.3% of homesWYSouth Dakota: 32.6% of homesSDIowa: 24.3% of homesIAIndiana: 30.7% of homesINOhio: 25.6% of homesOHPennsylvania: 24.8% of homesPANew Jersey: 15.6% of homesNJConnecticut: no data in this seriesCTCalifornia: 2.0% of homesCAUtah: 16.4% of homesUTColorado: 25.2% of homesCONebraska: 31.2% of homesNEMissouri: 37.0% of homesMOKentucky: 49.5% of homesKYWest Virginia: 45.5% of homesWVVirginia: 32.2% of homesVAMaryland: 42.6% of homesMDDelaware: 37.0% of homesDEArizona: 0.9% of homesAZNew Mexico: 13.1% of homesNMKansas: 26.5% of homesKSArkansas: 1.9% of homesARTennessee: 9.9% of homesTNNorth Carolina: 5.6% of homesNCSouth Carolina: 0.0% of homesSCDistrict of Columbia: no data in this seriesDCOklahoma: 0.5% of homesOKLouisiana: 0.0% of homesLAMississippi: 0.0% of homesMSAlabama: 0.0% of homesALGeorgia: 0.4% of homesGAHawaii: no data in this seriesHITexas: 0.1% of homesTXFlorida: 0.0% of homesFL

Darker is a larger share. Minnesota is outlined.

Minnesota: cold counties and electric heat

Minnesota cold counties, electric heating
Hennepin County534,57319.8105,8017,861-4%24.6
Ramsey County219,07524.252,9467,798-4%12.3
Dakota County171,63015.626,6957,760-4%6.2
Stearns County60,93728.117,1068,496-4%4.0
Anoka County136,17112.316,7197,991-3%3.9
Washington County103,41115.515,9777,844-3%3.7
St. Louis County86,26417.915,4839,817-2%3.6
Olmsted County66,62918.212,1567,966-4%2.8
Clay County25,93934.58,9398,974-2%2.1
Wright County52,75714.47,6078,121-3%1.8
Otter Tail County25,18127.66,9569,034-4%1.6
Scott County54,23812.86,9457,772-4%1.6
Crow Wing County28,77820.96,0028,896-4%1.4
Carver County40,23114.05,6207,885-4%1.3
Sherburne County34,95115.35,3378,228-3%1.2
Winona County20,28824.95,0437,684-4%1.2
Blue Earth County27,18318.45,0017,777-4%1.2
Beltrami County17,90827.74,9669,710-3%1.2
Rice County23,34518.34,2727,927-4%1.0
Benton County16,49425.94,2718,456-3%1.0

Largest 20 of 87 cold counties, ranked by electric-heated homes. The 67 smaller cold counties are in the CSV. All counties, CSV.

Where the electric-heated homes are

The 3 largest counties, Hennepin County, Ramsey County, Dakota County, hold 43% of the 430,264 electric-heated homes in Minnesota cold counties. The highest electric-heat share among cold counties with 5,000+ homes is Clay County at 34%. The coldest, Cook County, averages 10,352 heating degree days; Minnesota as a whole averages 8,162 when weighted by homes.

electric-heated homes, Minnesota cold counties, 12 largest

  • Hennepin County105,801
  • Ramsey County52,946
  • Dakota County26,695
  • Stearns County17,106
  • Anoka County16,719
  • Washington County15,977
  • St. Louis County15,483
  • Olmsted County12,156
  • Clay County8,939
  • Wright County7,607
  • Otter Tail County6,956
  • Scott County6,945

Minnesota: the 10 coldest counties

Cook County is coldest at 10,352 heating degree days with 30% electric heat. The 10 coldest hold 27,787 electric-heated homes.

Minnesota 10 coldest counties
CountyHomesElectric, %Normal HDDRecent HDD
Cook County2,70030.110,35210,158
Lake County5,03014.510,0839,910
Lake of the Woods County1,66525.09,9519,552
Roseau County6,05825.89,9159,544
Koochiching County5,71016.59,9019,617
Kittson County1,75827.59,8269,309
St. Louis County86,26417.99,8179,616
Beltrami County17,90827.79,7109,412
Marshall County3,74024.19,6909,412
Pennington County6,17024.29,6419,464

Minnesota: where electric heat is most common

Among counties with 2,000+ homes, Clay County is highest at 34% and Hubbard County is 10th at 27%.

Minnesota 10 counties with the highest electric heat share
CountyHomesElectric, %Normal HDDRecent HDD
Clay County25,93934.58,9748,767
Lyon County10,00333.77,9687,737
Cook County2,70030.110,35210,158
Wadena County5,88928.49,0878,724
Stearns County60,93728.18,4968,193
Becker County14,40427.89,3689,131
Beltrami County17,90827.79,7109,412
Wilkin County2,69127.78,6928,392
Otter Tail County25,18127.69,0348,701
Hubbard County8,88527.19,3819,062

Winter disconnections and price in Minnesota

Minnesota utilities logged 0.15 disconnections per 100 residential accounts a month in December to February 2024 and 0.47 in June to August.

At the 2025 average residential price of 15.82 cents a kWh, 1,000 kWh costs 158 dollars in Minnesota.

Minnesota in the ranking

Massachusetts is 14th with 495,363 homes (17.9% of its homes). Michigan is 15th with 467,609 homes (11.6% of its homes). Wisconsin is 17th with 423,487 homes (17.3% of its homes). West Virginia is 18th with 328,483 homes (45.5% of its homes).

Minnesota beside 4 neighbors

Minnesota neighbors with a winter page
NeighborElectric homesShare, %Avg HDD
Iowa316,69624.3%6,736
North Dakota129,64639.9%9,106
South Dakota117,03632.6%7,706
Wisconsin423,48717.3%7,487

Look up your Minnesota county

  • Pick your Minnesota county.

More

Sources

Files, dates and checksums

Questions

How many Minnesota homes heat with electricity in cold counties?

430,264 homes, 18.8% of 2,282,967 occupied Minnesota homes, in 87 counties averaging 4,000+ heating degree days.

Which Minnesota county has the most electric-heated homes among its cold counties?

Hennepin County, with 105,801 of its 534,573 homes (20%) at 7,861 normal heating degree days.

Which Minnesota county is the coldest, and how many of its homes heat with electricity?

Cook County, at 10,352 normal heating degree days: 813 of 2,700 homes (30%).

How far did the last decade run from the Minnesota normal?

Minnesota cold counties averaged 3.5% below their 1991-2020 heating degree days over 2016-2025.

Share this page

430,264 homes in Minnesota heat mainly with electricity in counties that are cold in a normal year

Cite this page

Underlying data are U.S. government works (EIA, Census Bureau). Our tables and charts: CC BY 4.0, credit Electric Consumer. The access date fills in when you open this page.

APA

Electric Consumer. (2026). Minnesota winter exposure: 430,264 electric-heated homes in cold counties. Data as of 9 October 2026. Retrieved 9 October 2026, from https://electricconsumer.org/winter/states/minnesota.html

MLA

Electric Consumer. “Minnesota winter exposure: 430,264 electric-heated homes in cold counties.” Electric Consumer, data as of 9 October 2026, https://electricconsumer.org/winter/states/minnesota.html. Accessed 9 October 2026.

Chicago

Electric Consumer. “Minnesota winter exposure: 430,264 electric-heated homes in cold counties.” Data as of 9 October 2026. Accessed 9 October 2026. https://electricconsumer.org/winter/states/minnesota.html.

BibTeX

@misc{usedata_winter_states_minnesota,
  author = "Electric Consumer",
  title = {Minnesota winter exposure: 430,264 electric-heated homes in cold counties},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://electricconsumer.org/winter/states/minnesota.html},
  note = {Data as of 9 October 2026. Accessed 9 October 2026}
}
Embed this chart or number

Free to use. No tracking, no scripts. Each embed links back to this site.

Charts on this page (SVG)

Copies a self-contained SVG with the source and a link to this page inside the image.