Waubun, Minnesota.
Typical home $278,295 (+5.6% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$822 (+129%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $14,691 +6%
- $263,604$278,295 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $61,872 +29%
- $216,423$278,295 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.
- Waubun$1,461
- Minnesota$1,831
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 14 years.
Typical home values in Waubun, MN rose 5.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Waubun, Mahnomen County, Minnesota
Waubun is a city of 409 people in Mahnomen County. 73% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 27% are rented. Unemployment in Mahnomen County was 6.6% in August 2026, and the county had 2.0% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then restaurants and hotels.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Waubun is a very small city in northwestern Minnesota, which makes it a place where people tend to know one another. The residents are younger than in most of the country, and most homes are lived in by their owners. A four-year degree is held by fewer adults than across the country as a whole, and a good share of households live below the poverty line. Winters are long and cold, with January highs staying below freezing and lows dipping below zero, while July brings warm summer days. Rain and melted snow together add up to a moderate amount over the year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with restaurants, hotels and entertainment, government and retail also employing a good number. Across Mahnomen County, the largest workplaces include Waubun-Ogema-White Earth Schools, Mahnomen Public School District and Mahnomen Health Center. Commutes are short, shorter than in most of the country, and some people work from home. Unemployment across the county has risen a little over the past year, though the county has added jobs.
Things to do. The White Earth River is a short drive away and is the closest place to get out on the water. Farther afield, a longer drive brings you to Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, a protected area for watching birds and other wildlife, and to Detroit Lake, one of the lakes in the surrounding region where people go to fish and spend time by the water.
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- 157households
- 14%of adults have a degree
- 18%below the poverty line
- 13 mintypical commute
- 10%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Mahnomen County had 2,028 jobs in 2025, 2.0% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 15° and lows near -2°; warmest in July, with highs near 78° and lows near 58°. About 26 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Mahnomen weather station, 9 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Mahnomen County
- Waubun-Ogema-White Earth SchoolsSchool district127FTE
- Mahnomen Public School DistrictSchool district102FTE
- Mahnomen Health CenterCritical access hospital68FTE
- Gordon Construction of MahnomenAddition, alteration and renovation for-sale builders, commercial and institutional building61
- White Earth Tribal and Community CollegeTwo-year college53
- Naytahwaush Community SchoolSchool district48FTE
- Wild Rice Electric CooperativeDistribution of electric power41
- EVCO Petroleum ProductsPropane bulk stations and terminals26
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 7 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 472 people in all across the county; Waubun has one of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24), hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and colleges from IPEDS (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
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- HailRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Waubun’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 Mahnomen County.
Waubun home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Waubun$278,295
- 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.
- Waubun8
Zip codes with a Waubun address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Waubun — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.