Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Mountain Iron gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $209K, 2.9 years of the Duluth metro’s $72K median household income. It grades A− overall, 99th among Minnesota's 271 graded towns. On the plus side, natural-hazard risk is low. 12% of the land in Mountain Iron is conserved, above both the Minnesota town median (4.6%) and the median of U.S. towns (4.3%). The biggest park or preserve is Superior National Forest, at 3,211 acres. Only 7 of the 274 Minnesota towns we compare have a lower January low than Mountain Iron.
Where Mountain Iron beats most towns.
Where Mountain Iron’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 Mountain Iron is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 470 in 1900, a peak of 4,134 in 1980, 2,878 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1892 and 3 maps from 1951 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Mountain Iron, 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 Mountain Iron.
Mountain Iron pairs an A− overall with homes cheaper than the Minnesota norm, carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Minnesota (mostly cold waves) and draws workers from Virginia and beyond.
2,595 jobs are based in Mountain Iron, 2.2 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 16.4 minutes, against 22.7 across Minnesota.
About one in 5 of Mountain Iron’s working residents works in town. Mountain Iron’s average trip to work is 16 minutes, against 23 minutes in Minnesota’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. Since 2013, Mountain Iron has lost 196 jobs, to 2,595 in 2023.
| Mountain Iron | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 16 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 21% | 9.7% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Mountain Iron-Buhl School District. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merritt ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 354 | B− |
| Mountain Iron-Buhl SecondaryLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 283 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MN on state tests and graduation
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 98% of Minnesota towns, with expected losses of about $1,193 per resident a year; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
The FEMA risk score in Mountain Iron is 9 of 100.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Superior National Forest | 0.7 mi | 3,211 |
| 2. South Grove Recreation Complex | — | 10 |
| 3. West Virginia Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Mountain Iron grades A− overall with a typical home of about $209K, below the Minnesota typical value; only 39 of the 123 Minnesota towns graded A− or better can say that. At 2.9 years of the Duluth metro’s $72K median household income, the typical home (about $209K) costs less against local pay than in 90% of Minnesota towns; that ratio is one input to its A for cost of living.
Mountain Iron’s median rent is $918 a month. Typical home values rose 5.4% in the year to September 2026.
| Mountain Iron | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $918 a month | $1,199 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 70% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The Tower 2s weather station, 23 miles away, records that about 4 days a year reach 90°, fewer than in 96% of U.S. towns. January nights average -3.2°, colder than in 99% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 78.1°.
Mountain Iron has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. About 69 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Within Minnesota it is less healthy than 74% of the 271 graded towns: Minnesota sets a high bar.
Mountain Iron beats the Minnesota average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 9. 32% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Mountain Iron.
| Mountain Iron | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 30% | 36% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 31% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 77% | 75% | 79% |
| What stands out | Mountain Iron | MN |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 81.1% | 76.1% |
| More adults getting cholesterol checked | 87.5% | 85.3% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 12.2% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Mountain Iron. Close and well known come first.
27 mi State parkLake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park
17 mi MuseumGreyhound Bus Museum
14 mi MuseumMinnesota Discovery Center
3 mi GardenOlcott ParkLake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park: McGhiever, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Greyhound Bus Museum: McGhiever, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Minnesota Discovery Center: McGhiever, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Olcott Park: McGhiever, CC BY-SA 4.0
None within 15 miles of Mountain Iron; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Mountain Iron residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Minnesota.
City in Minnesota, United States
Mountain Iron is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States, in the heart of the Mesabi Range. The population was 2,878 at the 2020 census. U.S. Highway 169 serves as a main route in Mountain Iron. The city's motto is "Taconite Capital of the World". The local mine, Minntac, is owned by the United States Steel Corporation (U.S. Steel). Mountain Iron is part of the Quad Cities, with Virginia, Eveleth, and Gilbert.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Mountain Iron.
| Town | MN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain Iron | #99 | A− | A | — | B | B |
| Virginia | #244 | C+ | A | C− | B | C− |
| Great Scott Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Clinton Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Wuori Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Leonidas | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Eveleth | #242 | C+ | A | C− | B | C+ |
Mountain Iron reports no FBI crime data of its own. Great Scott Township, Clinton Township, Wuori Township and Leonidas aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Mountain Iron with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Mountain Iron grades A− overall, better than 85% of U.S. towns and #99 of 271 in Minnesota. It grades B for health and B for schools.
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 A.
