Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Mankato grades C+ overall, 239th of 271 graded towns in Minnesota, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. It is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns and it has 12 miles of trail. On the other side, its crime rate is higher than 81% of U.S. towns, with 136 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. 47% of working residents work locally in Mankato, above both the Minnesota town median (9.7%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). Mankato has 14 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them First National Bank of Mankato and Renesselaer D. Hubbard House. Among 273 Minnesota towns, just 7 have a lower owner-occupancy rate than Mankato.
Where Mankato beats most towns.
Census counts: 3,482 in 1870, 44,488 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1850.
14 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Minnesota), ordered by how far Mankato is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Mankato, 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 Mankato.
Mankato is shaped by its college students, draws workers from North Mankato and beyond and is healthier than towns with similar incomes.
28,214 jobs are based in Mankato, 1.6 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 13.9 minutes, against 22.7 across Minnesota.
Mankato’s mean commuting time is 14 minutes. Half commute less than 3 miles. 7.8% of Mankato workers do their job from home. The top destinations are North Mankato (11%), St. Peter (5%) and Rochester (2%).
| Mankato | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 14 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 21% | 7% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 7.8% | 14% | 11% |
| Median household income | $67,000 | $91,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Three of the 27 schools are below, and why each made the list. Public schools: the Mankato Public School District. The 6 public schools in Mankato teach 2,029 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prairie Winds Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 887 | B− |
| Mankato East Senior HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,302 | B− |
| Franklin ElementaryTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 388 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MN on state tests and graduation
23% of residents are enrolled in college, against 5.8% statewide, which pulls the median age down. Only 50% of households own their home, against 72.2% across Minnesota.
Adults 18 to 34 are 43% of residents (22% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 27% of residents (38% statewide). The share of residents in Mankato who are under 18: 17%. The town has grown 4.4% since 2020, to 46,529 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. Here, just over a third of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree, against 39% in Minnesota as a whole.
| Mankato | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 26.5 years | 39.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 17% | 23% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 13% | 18% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 35% | 33% | 29% |
49.1% women, 50.9% men
About 104 men for every 100 women. Across Minnesota, 49.9% of residents are women. Median age: women 27.3, men 26.0.
| Mankato | MN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.9% | 12.1% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8% | 10.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 30% | 8.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 13.2% | 13% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.2% | 13.5% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 8.3% | 11.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 7.6% | 12.9% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 6.6% | 10.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6.7% | 6.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 22.5% | 23.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 22% | 19.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 13.7% | 11.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23.3% | 25.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.9% | 13.8% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Rasmussen Woods, at 184 acres with 2.5 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. 12 miles of trail in 21 parks and preserves. The concentration of trails for Mankato comes to 0.6 miles per square mile.
| Mankato | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.8% | 4.6% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rasmussen Woods | 2.5 mi | 184 |
| 2. Sibley Park | 2.1 mi | 82 |
| 3. River Front Park | 0.6 mi | 14 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Reported crimes fell from 1,417 to 1,148 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
For Mankato, the level of violent crime is 2.9 per 1,000 residents. The rate of thefts and burglaries here is 21.6 per 1,000 residents.
| Mankato | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 21.6 per 1,000 residents | 8.6 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.9 per 1,000 residents | 1.1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Storm and flood damage is expected to run lower than in 74% of U.S. communities. 23 flood insurance claims have been paid in Mankato since 1979. FEMA puts 36% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to cold waves, and 29% to inland flooding. Also worth knowing: households here have drawn federal disaster aid in 8 declared disasters, most recently in 2024.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Against the 10,179 U.S. towns with household incomes like Mankato’s, it is healthier than 87%, so its B+ isn’t only a matter of income. Within Minnesota it is less healthy than 60% of the 271 graded towns: Minnesota sets a high bar.
72% of adults had a checkup this year in Mankato. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Mankato is ahead of Minnesota on 7 and behind on 10. In Mankato, nearly a fifth of adults report frequent mental distress, and 27% have high blood pressure. Only 6 of the 271 Minnesota towns we compare have a higher share of adults who have been diagnosed with depression than Mankato.
| Mankato | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 72% | 75% | 79% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 16% | 17% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 31% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 25% | 23% |
| What stands out | Mankato | MN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.2% | 8.5% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 18.3% | 22.3% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 10.8% | 7.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The Mankato weather station records that the frost-free season runs about 161 days: shorter than most of the country, but longer than 86% of Minnesota places with climate records. The Mankato weather station records that about 10 days a year reach 90°: fewer than most of the country, but more than 78% of Minnesota places with climate records.
July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 6° and about 39 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Values rose 1.3% in the 12 months to September 2026. Mankato’s midpoint rent stands at $1,132 a month.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
4 within 15 miles of the center of Mankato
College town 23 of every 100 Mankato residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Minnesota.
2 colleges in town.
14 places in Mankato on the National Register of Historic Places.
45 notable people were born in Mankato.
City in Minnesota, United States
Mankato ( man-KAY-toh) is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is the county seat of Blue Earth County. It is the 21st-largest city in Minnesota and fourth-largest outside of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area, with a population of 44,488 at the 2020 census. The Mankato metropolitan area has an estimated 105,000 residents. Mankato lies along a large bend of the Minnesota River at its confluence with the Blue Earth River. The city is home to Minnesota State University, the state's second-largest university by enrollment.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Mankato.
| Town | MN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mankato | #239 | C+ | C | C− | B | B+ |
| Mankato Township | — | — | C− | — | B | B+ |
| Lime Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| North Mankato | #98 | A− | B | B | B | A |
| Skyline | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Belgrade Township | — | — | C− | — | B | A− |
| South Bend Township | — | — | B | — | B | B+ |
| Kasota Township | — | — | B | — | B+ | B+ |
Mankato Township, Belgrade Township, South Bend Township and Kasota Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Mankato Township, Belgrade Township, South Bend Township and Kasota Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Lime Township and Skyline aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Mankato with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Mankato grades C+ overall, better than 39% of U.S. towns and #239 of 271 in Minnesota. It grades B+ for health, C− for safety and B for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a C−.
That is 4 years of the area's median household income ($75,808 across the Mankato, MN metro 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.
45 notable people were born here, including Mike Lindell and Ron Johnson.
