Karlstad, Minnesota.
Typical home $153,231 (+3.3% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$381 (+90%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $4,936 +3%
- $148,294$153,231 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $20,434 +15%
- $132,796$153,231 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.
- Karlstad$804
- Minnesota$1,831
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 24 years.
Typical home values in Karlstad, MN rose 3.3% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Karlstad, Kittson County, Minnesota
Karlstad is a city of 710 people in Kittson County. Half its households earn more than $64,000 a year and half less, against $76,100 across Kittson County; 12% of its people live below the poverty line. 74% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 26% are rented. Unemployment in Kittson County was 5.8% in August 2026, and the county had 4.0% 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 24 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Karlstad is a small city in Kittson County, in the far northwest corner of Minnesota. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and typical home values are modest. Household incomes run below the county's, and more people live below the poverty line here than in many places. Winters are long and cold, with January the coldest month and plenty of snow, while July brings warm days and the year's rain and melted snow is moderate.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops and professional and business services also employing many. Across Kittson County, the largest workplaces include Kittson Memorial Hospital, the Kittson Central School District and the soybean processor CHS. Unemployment across the county is higher than a year ago, though the county has added jobs over the past year. The typical commute is a fairly short drive, and very few people work from home.
Things to do. For time outdoors, Lake Bronson State Park and Old Mill State Park are both protected areas a longer drive away. The Little Joe River, also a longer drive away, offers a quieter spot along the water. Distances are real out here, so a day trip to any of them is best planned with time to spare.
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- 266households
- 12%below the poverty line
- 25 mintypical commute
- 3%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Kittson County had 1,494 jobs in 2025, 4.0% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 16° and lows near -5°; warmest in July, with highs near 82° and lows near 55°. About 44 inches of snow and 23 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Argyle weather station, 22 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Kittson County
- Kittson Memorial HospitalCritical access hospital68FTE
- PoDCoPowder coating metals and metal products for the trade67
- CHSSoybean and other oilseed processing60
- Kittson Central School DistrictSchool district53FTE
- Tri-County SchoolAcademies, elementary or secondary49
- Lancaster Public School DistrictSchool district40FTE
- Tri-county School DistrictSchool district40FTE
- True North EquipmentAgricultural machinery and equipment merchant wholesalers21
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 6 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 401 people in all across the county; Karlstad has none 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
- Winter weatherVery high
- WildfireRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Karlstad’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 Kittson County.
Karlstad home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Karlstad$153,231
- Minnesota$348,778
- 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.
- Karlstad6
Zip codes with a Karlstad address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Karlstad — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.