Tofte, Minnesota.
Typical home $459,525 (+4.5% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,320 (+121%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $19,942 +5%
- $439,583$459,525 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $91,916 +25%
- $367,609$459,525 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.
- Tofte$2,412
- Minnesota$1,831
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 16 years.
Typical home values in Tofte, MN rose 4.5% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Tofte, Cook County, Minnesota
Tofte is a township of 269 people in Cook County. Half its households earn more than $56,875 a year and half less, against $72,638 across Cook County; 15% of its people live below the poverty line. 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Tofte is a very small township on Minnesota's North Shore, home to a small community. Household incomes run below the county's, and homes here carry a high typical value, so the cost of owning can weigh heavily against what many households earn. Winters are long and cold, with January the coldest month and frost well below freezing at night, while July brings mild, comfortable warmth.
Work. Many residents work in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, or for government. Across Cook County, the largest workplaces include Lutsen Mountains, North Shore Health and Cook County Hospital District. Unemployment across the county is a little higher than a year ago, while the number of jobs has edged up slightly.
Things to do. Screech Lake lies in or beside town, and Rice Lake is a short drive away for time by the water. Lutsen Mountains, a ski area, is also a short drive away. For a longer outing, Temperance River State Park is a longer drive away, with the Temperance River running through the same stretch of country.
Report a mistake
- 15%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, 10 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Cook County
- Lutsen MountainsSki lift and tow operators161
- North Shore HealthSkilled nursing facilities135
- ISDK-12 education115
- Cook County Public SchoolsSchool district90FTE
- Cook County Hospital DistrictCritical access hospital66FTE
- Odyssey ResortsResort hotels without casinos53
- City of Grand MaraisGeneral public administration44
- Ymca43
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 7 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 576 people in all across the county; Tofte has one of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); 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
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Cook County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very low. 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.
Tofte home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Tofte$459,525
- 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.
- Tofte6
Zip codes with a Tofte address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Tofte — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.