Gnesen TownshipMN
A town of 1,940.
Is Gnesen Township a good place to live?
The best of Gnesen Township’s subject grades are an A− for health and civic life; the weakest is a D− for cost of living. 10% of residents are under 18 in Gnesen Township, below both the Minnesota town median (23%) and the median of U.S. towns (22%). No town in Minnesota scores lower than Gnesen Township on cost of living. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 81% of U.S. towns. The biggest place to walk is Cloquet Valley State Forest, 1,600 acres with 2 miles of trail. Gnesen Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Gnesen Township has grown 15% since 2010
1,683 counted in 2010 and 1,931 in 2020; an estimated 1,940 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
How Gnesen Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Minnesota), ordered by how far Gnesen Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Gnesen Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Gnesen 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Gnesen Township.
Gnesen Township ranks healthier than 84% of the country’s towns
Gnesen Township beats the Minnesota average on 5 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 20% of adults binge drink in Gnesen Township, against 18% in Minnesota’s towns and 16% across U.S. towns. 31% of Gnesen Township adults sleep under 7 hours.
| Gnesen Township | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 18% | 16% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 23% | 25% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 30% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| What stands out | Gnesen Township | MN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.3% | 7.5% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 6.9% | 9.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
A smaller share of working residents in Gnesen Township work locally than in the typical Minnesota or U.S. town
1.1% of working residents work locally in Gnesen Township. Since 2013, Gnesen Township has added 32 jobs, to 140 in 2023. Gnesen Township’s median household income is $113,000.
| Gnesen Township | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $113,000 | $90,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.1% | 9.8% | 8% |
| Work from home | 17% | 14% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The median age in Gnesen Township is higher than in most of Minnesota or the rest of the country
The median age in Gnesen Township is 59.2 years. Only 8 of the 274 Minnesota towns we compare have a higher share of residents 65 or older than Gnesen Township. 47% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 39% across Minnesota.
| Gnesen Township | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 59.2 years | 39.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 29% | 18% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 47% | 33% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
48% women, 52% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.3 points. Across Minnesota, 49.9% of residents are women.
| Gnesen Township | MN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 4.8% | 12.1% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 5.4% | 10.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7% | 8.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 8.3% | 13% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.2% | 13.5% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 9% | 11.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 26.6% | 12.9% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 16.1% | 10.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 12.7% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.6% | 6.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 21% | 23.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 20.5% | 19.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.1% | 11.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 26% | 25.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 20.9% | 13.8% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,900, single groups can be off by several points
Snowy winters and pleasant summers in Gnesen Township
Gnesen Township has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Among 275 Minnesota towns, just 5 have a lower July high than Gnesen Township.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Moderate risk in Gnesen Township, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 55% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
| Gnesen Township | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.8% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cloquet Valley State Forest | 2 mi | 1,600 |
| 2. Gichigami Ziibi WMA | — | 373 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Split Rock Lighthouse and 10 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Gnesen Township. Close and well known come first.
37 mi LighthouseSplit Rock Lighthouse
17 mi MuseumLake Superior Railroad Museum
17 mi Zoo & aquariumGreat Lakes Aquarium
32 mi State parkGooseberry Falls State Park
17 mi MuseumDuluth Depot
21 mi MuseumTwo Harbors LighthousePhoto credits
Split Rock Lighthouse: Jim Sorbie, CC BY 2.0 · Lake Superior Railroad Museum: User resedabear on Flickr, CC BY 2.0 · Great Lakes Aquarium: Tmajewski, Public domain · Gooseberry Falls State Park: Chuck Kochmann, Copyrighted free use · Duluth Depot: Hikki Nagasaki, Public domain · Two Harbors Lighthouse: pmarkham, CC BY-SA 2.0
Everything we know about Gnesen Township
Colleges nearby
2 within 15 miles of the center of Gnesen Township
About 6 of every 100 Gnesen Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Minnesota.
99% of working residents leave Gnesen Township for work
Where Gnesen Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Gnesen Township
Township in Minnesota, United States
Gnesen Township is a township in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,931 at the 2020 census. Rice Lake Road (County Road 4) serves as a main route in Gnesen Township. Other routes include Normanna Road, Emerson Road, Howard Gnesen Road, Arnold Road, and West Pioneer Road.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 72 sq mi
- Elevation
- 1,371 ft
Gnesen Township’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Gnesen Township.
| Town | MN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gnesen Township | — | — | D− | — | B− | A− |
| Rice Lake | #214 | B− | C− | — | B− | B+ |
| North Star Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Fredenberg Township | — | — | C+ | — | A | A− |
| Normanna Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Gnesen Township and Fredenberg Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Gnesen Township, Rice Lake and Fredenberg Township report no FBI crime data of their own. North Star Township and Normanna Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Gnesen Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Gnesen Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Gnesen Township, MN expensive?
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D−.