Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,261.
Carlos Township’s best subject grades are an A− for schools, incomes, and health; its weakest is a D for walkability. Only 14 of Minnesota’s 574 towns score lower on walkability. Only 12 of Minnesota’s 572 towns score lower on civic life. Lake Carlos State Park, at 1,208 acres with 11.2 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Carlos Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Carlos Township beats most towns.
Where Carlos Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Minnesota), ordered by how far Carlos Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 2005.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Who provides power, water and the rest in Carlos Township, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Carlos Township.
Carlos Township beats the Minnesota average on 3 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 3. 29% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Carlos Township, below both the Minnesota town median (30%) and the median of U.S. towns (36%). 28% of adults feel lonely in Carlos Township.
| Carlos Township | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 30% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 30% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 76% | 75% | 79% |
| What stands out | Carlos Township | MN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.4% | 11.4% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 7.8% | 9.3% |
| More adults with arthritis | 26.3% | 22.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most working residents leave Carlos Township for work: only 2% work in town. 2.7% of residents live below the poverty line in Carlos Township, where Minnesota’s towns sit at 7% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Jobs based in Carlos Township fell to 418 in 2023, 91 fewer than in 2013.
| Carlos Township | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 2.7% | 7% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.1% | 9.8% | 8% |
| Median household income | $104,000 | $90,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Adults 18 to 34 are 9% of residents (22% statewide); people 65 and older are 25% of residents (17% statewide). Carlos Township’s median age is 49.6 years. 38% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 39% across Minnesota.
| Carlos Township | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 49.6 years | 39.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 25% | 18% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 38% | 33% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 22% | 23% | 22% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.4 points. Across Minnesota, 49.9% of residents are women.
| Carlos Township | MN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.8% | 12.1% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.9% | 10.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 3.3% | 8.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 5.6% | 13% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.4% | 13.5% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 16.3% | 11.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 16.4% | 12.9% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 16.8% | 10.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.5% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2.8% | 6.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 20.7% | 23.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 15.8% | 19.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 22.4% | 11.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 24.7% | 25.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 13.7% | 13.8% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,300, single groups can be off by several points
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 72% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Carlos Township has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The July high in Carlos Township is 80°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
13 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves.
| Carlos Township | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 7.3% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lake Carlos State Park | 11.2 mi | 1,208 |
| 2. Rotary Beach Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The typical Carlos Township home is worth about $334,000, up 4.4% in a year, close to the Minnesota typical home. 95% of Carlos Township households own their home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1 within 15 miles of the center of Carlos Township
About 3 of every 100 Carlos Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Minnesota.
City in Minnesota, United States
Carlos is a city in Douglas County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 497 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Carlos Township.
| Town | MN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carlos Township | — | — | C | — | A− | A− |
| Alexandria | #144 | B+ | B− | C+ | A− | B+ |
| Ida Township | — | — | C | — | A− | A− |
| Miltona Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Belle River Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Alexandria Township | #87 | A | B− | — | A− | B+ |
Carlos Township and Ida Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Carlos Township, Ida Township and Alexandria Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Miltona Township and Belle River Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Carlos Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
That is 4.2 years of the area's median household income ($79,043 across the Alexandria, MN area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.