Willow River, Minnesota.
Typical home $262,607 (+5.5% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$829 (+151%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $13,638 +5%
- $248,969$262,607 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $64,423 +33%
- $198,184$262,607 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.
- Willow River$1,378
- Minnesota$1,831
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Willow River, MN rose 5.5% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Willow River, Pine County, Minnesota
Willow River is a city of 384 people in Pine County. Unemployment in Pine County was 6.6% in August 2026, and the county had 1.4% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Willow River is a very small city, home to far fewer people than most towns in Minnesota, and it sits along the river that shares its name. Winters are cold, with January days that stay well below freezing, and summers are pleasantly warm in July. Rain and melted snow add up to a moderate amount over the year. Fewer adults here hold a four-year degree than is typical, and a noticeable share of residents work from home. Homes are valued somewhat above what many people might expect for such a small place.
Work. Residents most often work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by shops, the building trades and government. Across Pine County, among the largest workplaces are Walmart, the Pine City Public School District and the Hinckley-Finlayson School District. Unemployment across the county has risen compared with a year earlier, though the county has added a few jobs over the past year. Incomes in the county sit a little above many rural parts of the state, and a good number of people in town live below the poverty line.
Things to do. The Willow River runs in or beside town, and General C. C. Andrews State Forest, a protected woodland, is just as close. A short drive away are Moose Lake State Park and the Pine River, both good places for time outdoors. For a longer outing, Banning State Park is a longer drive away.
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- 157households
- 12%of adults have a degree
- 14%below the poverty line
- 16%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Pine County had 7,906 jobs in 2025, 1.4% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 20° and lows near 1°; warmest in July, with highs near 80° and lows near 57°. About 32 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Moose Lake Sse weather station, 9 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Pine County
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters327
- Pine City Public School DistrictSchool district175FTE
- Hinckley-finlayson School DistrictSchool district159FTE
- Bureau of Prisons/federal Prison SystemFederal government · Department of Justice128
- Pine Technical & Community CollegeTwo-year college123
- PhaseSocial service centers, multipurpose113
- Essentia Health SandstoneHospitals, general medical and surgical111
- East Central School DistrictSchool district101FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 21 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,886 people in all across the county; Willow River has one of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24), federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026) 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
- Cold wavesVery high
- LightningRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- HailRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Willow River’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 Pine County.
Willow River home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Willow River$262,607
- 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.
- Willow River7
Zip codes with a Willow River address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Willow River — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.