Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Fergus Falls gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $205K for a typical one, or 2.8 years of the Fergus Falls area’s $72K median household income. It grades B overall, 208th among Minnesota's 271 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. The median household income is $56K, and 9% of residents live below the poverty line, and it reports more crime per resident than 75% of U.S. towns, including 22 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. On the plus side, it has 16 miles of trail. 62% of working residents work locally in Fergus Falls, where Minnesota’s towns sit at 9.7% and U.S. towns at 8%. On hazard risk, just 17 of Minnesota’s 575 towns do better. Fergus Falls has 14 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Otter Tail County Courthouse and Fergus Falls State Hospital Complex.
Where Fergus Falls beats most towns.
Census counts: 1,635 in 1880, 14,119 in 2020. The archive holds 17 old photos and papers going back to 1881 and 3 maps from 1913 on.
14 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Minnesota), ordered by how far Fergus Falls is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Fergus Falls, 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 Fergus Falls.
Fergus Falls draws workers from Aurdal Township and beyond and has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it is a long drive from an emergency room.
Fergus Falls’ trail density is 1.0 miles per square mile. The biggest park or preserve is Mavis WPA, at 206 acres.
| Fergus Falls | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.0 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 9.8% | 4.6% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ferber Park | 3.3 mi | 79 |
| 2. One Mile Prairie | 2.2 mi | 157 |
| 3. Prairie Wetlands Learning Center | 1.4 mi | 68 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Fergus Falls Public School District. Three of its 17 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kennedy Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 558 | A− |
| Kennedy High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 714 | A− |
| Cleveland ElementaryTop results in townGrades 4–5 | Grades 4–5 | 361 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MN on state tests and graduation
8,870 jobs are based in Fergus Falls, 1.5 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 12.9 minutes, against 22.7 across Minnesota.
The average trip to work in Fergus Falls is 13 minutes. The top destinations are Fargo (3%), Wahpeton (1%) and Detroit Lakes (1%). 7.3% of workers work from home in Fergus Falls.
| Fergus Falls | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 13 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $56,000 | $91,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 7.3% | 14% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 9.1% | 7% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 87% of U.S. communities. Since 1997, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Fergus Falls.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 2.8 years of the Fergus Falls area’s $72K median household income, the typical home (about $205K) costs less against local pay than in 92% of Minnesota towns; that ratio is one input to its B+ for cost of living.
64% of Fergus Falls households own their home. The typical Fergus Falls home is worth about $205,000, up 3.5% in a year, 41% below the Minnesota typical home.
| Fergus Falls | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 64% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $911 a month | $1,199 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Reported crimes fell from 400 to 327 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Fergus Falls reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 75% report less.
| Fergus Falls | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 21.3 per 1,000 residents | 8.6 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.5 per 1,000 residents | 1.1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
January nights average 0.3°, colder than in 96% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 80.6°.
Fergus Falls has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. About 50 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The nearest emergency room, St. Francis Medical Center, is 20.1 miles away in a straight line. Against the 7,773 U.S. towns with household incomes like Fergus Falls’s, it is healthier than 85%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
Fergus Falls beats the Minnesota average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 12.
| Fergus Falls | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 23% | 25% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 30% | 36% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 76% | 75% | 79% |
| What stands out | Fergus Falls | MN |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 80.8% | 76.1% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 12.8% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
1 within 15 miles of the center of Fergus Falls
About 4 of every 100 Fergus Falls residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Minnesota.
14 places in Fergus Falls on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in Minnesota, United States
Fergus Falls ( FUR-gəss) is a city in and the county seat of Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,119 at the 2020 census, and was estimated to be 14,258 in 2024.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Fergus Falls.
| Town | MN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fergus Falls · Fergus Falls Township | #208 | B | B+ | C | B+ | B− |
| Buse Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Aurdal Township | — | — | B− | — | B+ | B |
| Orwell Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Carlisle Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Aurdal Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Aurdal Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Buse Township, Orwell Township and Carlisle Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Fergus Falls Township and Fergus Falls are one community, graded once. Compare Fergus Falls with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Fergus Falls grades B overall, better than 55% of U.S. towns and #208 of 271 in Minnesota. It grades B− for health, C for safety and B+ for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a C−.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.
