Graettinger, Iowa.
Typical home $159,031 (+5.9% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$466 (+126%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $8,821 +6%
- $150,209$159,031 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $45,791 +40%
- $113,240$159,031 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Graettinger$835
- Iowa$1,242
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 10 years.
Typical home values in Graettinger, IA rose 5.9% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Graettinger, Palo Alto County, Iowa
Graettinger is a city of 832 people in Palo Alto County. Half its households earn more than $82,417 a year and half less, against $72,781 across Palo Alto County; 6% of its people live below the poverty line. 80% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 20% are rented. Unemployment in Palo Alto County was 2.6% in August 2026, and the county had 1.2% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Graettinger is a small city in Palo Alto County where most homes are lived in by their owners, more so than in many towns. Household incomes run higher than across the county, and relatively few residents live below the poverty line. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month, and the town sees a good deal of snow, while July brings warm summer days.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, retail and farming also well represented. Across Palo Alto County, some of the largest workplaces are Palo Alto County Hospital, the Graettinger-Terril Community School District and the Emmetsburg Community School District. Commutes are short, and very few people work from home.
Things to do. Lost Island Lake is a lake a short drive away, and the closest water to town. West Okoboji Lake and Spirit Lake are both lakes a longer drive away. Fort Defiance State Park, a protected area, is also a longer drive from town.
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- 469households
- 12%of adults have a degree
- 6%below the poverty line
- 17 mintypical commute
- 1%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Palo Alto County had 3,659 jobs in 2025, 1.2% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 26° and lows near 7°; warmest in July, with highs near 85° and lows near 63°. About 37 inches of snow and 34 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Emmetsburg weather station, 10 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Palo Alto County
- Palo Alto County HospitalCritical access hospital156FTE
- Wild Rose Casino EmmetsburgCasinos154
- MacArthur Company - Energy Panel StructuresBuildings, prefabricated metal, manufacturing152
- Emmetsburg Comm School DistrictSchool district119FTE
- Fareway Stores, Inc. 849 EmmetsburgGrocery stores80
- Graettinger-Terril Comm School DistrictSchool district75FTE
- West Bend CareSkilled nursing facilities75
- Emmetsburg Care CenterSkilled nursing facilities71
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 15 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,188 people in all across the county; Graettinger has one of its own. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- HailVery high
- LightningVery high
- Cold wavesVery high
- DroughtRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Graettinger’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Palo Alto County.
Graettinger home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Graettinger$159,031
- Iowa$236,623
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Graettinger8
Zip codes with a Graettinger address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Graettinger — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.