Lutsen, Minnesota.
Typical home $512,312 (+3.7% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,592 (+145%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $18,105 +4%
- $494,207$512,312 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $143,921 +39%
- $368,391$512,312 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.
- Lutsen$2,689
- Minnesota$1,831
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 11 years.
Typical home values in Lutsen, MN rose 3.7% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Lutsen, Cook County, Minnesota
Lutsen, in Cook County, had 220 people in the 2020 census. Unemployment in Cook County was 3.9% in August 2026, and the county had 0.7% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Cook County work in restaurants and hotels, then schools and health care.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Lutsen is a very small community on Minnesota's North Shore in Cook County, and it feels more like a cluster of neighbors and visitors than a town in the usual sense. Winters are long and cold, with January the coldest month and nights well below freezing, while summers stay mild and pleasant, with July the warmest month. Homes here are priced well above what many people expect for a place this size.
Work. Most work in and around Lutsen is tied to visitors and the outdoors, with many residents employed in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, along with schools, hospitals and social care, shops and government. Some of the biggest workplaces in Lutsen are Lutsen Mountains, Odyssey Resorts and Arrowhead Electric Cooperative. Across Cook County, unemployment is a little higher than a year ago, and the number of jobs has grown only slightly.
Things to do. Lutsen Mountains, a ski area in or beside town, is the best known draw, and the Poplar River and Tait River also run in or beside town. A short drive away are Cascade River State Park, a protected area, and Christine Lake, a good spot for time on the water. For a longer outing, Temperance River State Park is a longer drive away.
Report a mistake
- 8%below the poverty line
What people in Cook County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Cook County had 2,646 jobs in 2025, 0.7% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 17° and lows near -3°; warmest in July, with highs near 73° and lows near 54°.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Lutsen 3NNE weather station, 2 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Lutsen
- Lutsen MountainsSki lift and tow operators161
- Odyssey ResortsResort hotels without casinos53
- Arrowhead Electric CooperativeElectric power distribution systems25
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 239 people in all. 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
- LightningVery high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- WildfireRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Lutsen’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 Cook County.
Lutsen home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Lutsen$512,312
- Minnesota$348,778
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 6 Lutsen listings — the market is roughly in balance.
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
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Lutsen16.57%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Lutsen30
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Lutsen6
Zip codes with a Lutsen address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Lutsen — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.