Wadena, Minnesota.
Typical home $216,685 (+3.3% in a year). Fergus Falls, MN metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$615 (+118%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $6,980 +3%
- $209,706$216,685 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $43,013 +25%
- $173,672$216,685 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.
- Wadena$1,137
- 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 Wadena, MN rose 3.3% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Wadena, Otter Tail County, Minnesota
Wadena is a city of 4,325 people in Otter Tail County. Half its households earn more than $56,080 a year and half less, against $72,255 across Otter Tail County; 18% of its people live below the poverty line. 58% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 42% are rented. Unemployment in Otter Tail County was 4.8% in August 2026, and the county had 1.4% 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Wadena is a small city in Minnesota, in the part of the state where winters are long and cold. January is the coldest month, with highs well below freezing and nights colder still, and July is the warmest, with pleasant summer highs. A good deal of snow falls each winter, and the year brings a fair amount of rain and melted snow overall. Incomes in the city run below the county's, more residents live below the poverty line than is typical, and a smaller share of adults hold a four-year degree. Most homes are lived in by their owners.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, retail shops and wholesale also providing jobs. Among the largest workplaces in Wadena are Astera Health, Walmart and the Wadena-Deer Creek School District. Across Otter Tail County, unemployment is higher than it was a year earlier and there are somewhat fewer jobs than the year before. Few residents work from home.
Things to do. The nearest places on the list are a short run of rivers and lakes, all a longer drive away. The Redeye River and the Leaf River are among them, and Lovejoy Lake is a lake for anyone who prefers still water. Pick a mild summer day, since the winters are cold and snowy.
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- 2,042households
- 18%of adults have a degree
- 18%below the poverty line
- 5%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Otter Tail County had 22,581 jobs in 2025, 1.4% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 18° and lows near -2°; warmest in July, with highs near 78° and lows near 58°. About 51 inches of snow and 29 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Wadena South weather station, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Wadena
- Astera HealthGeneral medical and surgical hospitals480
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters211
- Wadena-deer Creek School DistrictSchool district159FTE
- Freshwater Education DistrictSchool district107FTE
- SecondaryK-12 education107
- ElementaryK-12 education106
- Eden Senior CareSkilled nursing facilities90
- Homecrest Outdoor Living85
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 20 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,649 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
- Strong windRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Wadena’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 Otter Tail County and the Fergus Falls, MN metro.
Wadena home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Wadena$216,685
- 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 4 Wadena listings — the market is cooling.
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.
- Wadena27.68%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Wadena39
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Wadena8
Zip codes with a Wadena address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Wadena — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.