Saint James, Minnesota.
Typical home $157,837 (+1.6% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$567 (+216%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $2,556 +2%
- $155,281$157,837 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $56,476 +56%
- $101,361$157,837 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.
- Saint James$828
- Minnesota$1,831
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 8 years.
Typical home values in Saint James, MN rose 1.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Saint James, Watonwan County, Minnesota
Saint James is a city of 4,793 people in Watonwan County. Half its households earn more than $60,242 a year and half less, against $71,699 across Watonwan County; 18% of its people live below the poverty line. 66% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 34% are rented. Unemployment in Watonwan County was 4.5% in August 2026, and the county had 0.4% fewer 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Saint James is a small city in Watonwan County, Minnesota, and most homes there are lived in by their owners. Incomes run below the county's overall, and a good share of residents live below the poverty line. Few adults hold a four-year degree, and typical homes are priced modestly. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month, and a lot of snow falls each year, while July brings warm days.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops and the building trades also employing a lot of people. Among the largest workplaces in town are Smithfield Foods, a processed meats manufacturer, the St. James Public School District, and the Good Samaritan Society nursing facility. Unemployment in Watonwan County is a little higher than a year ago, and the county has slightly fewer jobs than it did the year before. Most people travel a moderate distance to work, and only a few work from home.
Things to do. The Grand Opera House, a theatre, is in or beside town. Bullhead Lake and Kansas Lake are both lakes a short drive away. For a longer outing, Flandrau State Park is a protected area a longer drive away.
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- 1,810households
- 16%of adults have a degree
- 18%below the poverty line
- 22 mintypical commute
- 5%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Watonwan County had 4,490 jobs in 2025, 0.4% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 24° and lows near 5°; warmest in July, with highs near 83° and lows near 62°. About 50 inches of snow and 33 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the St. James Wwtp weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Saint James
- Smithfield FoodsProcessed meats manufacturing611
- St. James Public School DistrictSchool district157FTE
- The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society - St. JamesSkilled nursing facilities84
- Watonwan County Courthouse & Resource CenterExecutive and legislative office combinations76
- City of St. JamesGeneral public administration75
- Watonwan County Human ServicesWelfare programs administration54
- UPSCouriers and express delivery services42
- McDonalds - St JamesRestaurants, fast food41
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 8 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,015 people in all. School districts come 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
- Cold wavesVery high
- Strong windRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
- HailRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Saint James’ 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 Watonwan County.
Saint James home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Saint James$157,837
- Minnesota$348,778
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 9 Saint James listings — the market is heating up.
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.
- Saint James10.79%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Saint James26
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Saint James7
Zip codes with a Saint James address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Saint James — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.