The 2026 State Housing Profile shows that Minnesota’s housing shortage continues to strain renters, workers, and first-time homebuyers, with the greatest impacts falling on households with the lowest incomes and on communities of color.

“These findings make clear that Minnesota’s housing shortage isn’t an abstract problem — it’s showing up in people’s day-to-day lives,” said Anne Mavity, Executive Director of MHP. “When people working in our most in-demand jobs can’t afford to live near where they work, and when renters are forced to choose between housing and basic needs, that’s a sign our housing system is out of balance. This report points to where the gaps are — and why action matters.”

Key Findings from the 2026 State Housing Profile

• Nearly half of Minnesota renter households are cost burdened, leaving families less money for food, health care, and other basic needs. The strain is even greater for older adults, with 63% of senior renters cost burdened.
• Minnesota’s housing shortfall has the greatest impact on renters with the lowest incomes. For extremely low-income renters alone, there is a shortage of more than 101,000 affordable and available homes.*
• The median age of a first-time homebuyer in Minnesota has risen to a historic high of 40 years, reflecting growing barriers to entering the housing market.
• Home values are rising faster than homeowners’ incomes. None of Minnesota’s top five in-demand jobs pay enough for workers to afford homeownership, and, of the five, only registered nurses earn enough to afford quality rental housing.
• Minnesota ranks 45th in the nation with one of the worst homeownership gaps between white (non-Hispanic) households and households of color. Homeownership rates declined in the past year for Black, Native American, Hispanic, and Asian households.

Previous State Profile: 2025

*Extremely low-income indicates people are those earning less than $33,000 a year. Because higher-income households often occupy homes affordable to lower-income renters, the shortage of affordable and available homes for extremely low-income renters can exceed the state’s overall housing shortfall.