For 2009, the county profiles paint a picture of continuing housing need, especially for lower-paid occupations. Major findings include:

• Since 2001, rents have risen much faster in Greater Minnesota than in the Twin Cities. While already-high rents in Twin Cities counties increased 18%, other areas showed substantially higher increases.

• Kanabec, Pine, and Mille Lacs Counties had the highest rent increases—up by 56%—followed by Le Sueur and Crow Wing, with increases of 54% and 51%, respectively. Rochester, Duluth, and St. Cloud area counties also posted significant rent increases.

• Owning a median-priced home is affordable to all of MHP's five featured occupations in only 4 counties: Grant, Kittson, Lincoln, and Pipestone. These counties have homes that are among the least expensive in the state.

• In not one county is renting a typical 2-bedroom apartment affordable to all five featured occupations.

• Between 2007 and 2008, the number of foreclosures increased in more than three-quarters of Minnesota counties.

• The most significant percent increases for foreclosures were in Stevens, Mahnomen, and Clearwater counties; the largest decreases were in Wilkin and Lyon counties. Overall, foreclosures statewide were up by 29%.

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Minnesota (Statewide profile)

By County

Aitkin Anoka Becker Beltrami Benton Big Stone Blue Earth Brown Carlton Carver Cass Chippewa Chisago Clay Clearwater Cook Cottonwood Crow Wing Dakota Dodge Douglas Faribault Fillmore Freeborn Goodhue Grant Hennepin Houston Hubbard

Isanti Itasca Jackson Kanabec Kandiyohi Kittson Koochiching Lac qui Parle Lake Lake of the Woods Le Sueur Lincoln Lyon Mahnomen Marshall Martin McLeod Meeker Mille Lacs Morrison Mower Murray Nicollet Nobles Norman Olmsted Otter Tail Pennington Pine

Pipestone Polk Pope Ramsey Red Lake Redwood Renville Rice Rock Roseau Scott Sherburne Sibley Stearns Steele Stevens St. Louis Swift Todd Traverse Wabasha Wadena Waseca Washington Watonwan Wilkin Winona Wright Yellow_Medicine

Data for the 2009 County Profiles is gathered from a variety of sources including the American Community Survey (ACS) from the US Census Bureau, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, and the Minnesota Department of Revenue. In addition to these government sources, the profiles rely upon local non-profits doing high quality research in the area of homelessness and foreclosures.