Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Mountain Lake’s best subject grade is an A for cost of living; its weakest is a C− for incomes. 34% of residents are under 18 in Mountain Lake, against 23% in Minnesota’s towns and 22% across U.S. towns. On incomes, just 48 of Minnesota’s 574 towns do worse. Isaac Bargen House is on the National Register of Historic Places. Mountain Lake has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Mountain Lake beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Minnesota), ordered by how far Mountain Lake is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 323 in 1890, 1,999 in 2020. The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 2 maps from 1970 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Mountain Lake, 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 Lake.
The typical Mountain Lake home is worth about $166,000, down 1.8% in a year, 52% below the Minnesota typical home. Mountain Lake’s median rent is $929 a month, where Minnesota’s towns sit at $1,196 a month and U.S. towns at $1,185 a month.
| Mountain Lake | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $929 a month | $1,196 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 72% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by the Mountain Lake Public Schools. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain Lake ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 257 | C+ |
| Mountain Lake SecondaryLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 241 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MN on state tests and graduation
About one in 4 of Mountain Lake’s working residents works in town. Mountain Lake’s average trip to work is 14 minutes. Jobs based in Mountain Lake grew to 627 in 2023, 44 more than in 2013.
| Mountain Lake | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 14 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 14% | 7% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $66,000 | $90,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 73% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Mountain Lake has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 6° and about 44 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
31% of Mountain Lake adults get no exercise outside work. Mountain Lake beats the Minnesota average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 14. 16% of Mountain Lake adults binge drink.
| Mountain Lake | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 23% | 25% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 10% | 12% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 18% | 16% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 7.3% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | Mountain Lake | MN |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 79.1% | 76.1% |
| More uninsured adults | 11.1% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lawcon Park | — | 6 |
| 2. City Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Mountain Lake; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Mountain Lake residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Minnesota.
City in Minnesota, United States
Mountain Lake is a city in Cottonwood County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,999 as of the 2020 census. Mountain Lake was initially populated mostly by 1,800 Low German (or more specifically, Plautdietsch) speaking Mennonites from Russia who settled there between 1873 and 1880. The city has become more diverse, with the more recent addition of immigrant groups including Lao, Hmong, and Hispanic people, but a significant proportion of its inhabitants still have Mennonite surnames.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Mountain Lake.
| Town | MN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain Lake · Mountain Lake Township | — | — | A | B+ | B− | C+ |
| Midway Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Mountain Lake has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Midway Township isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Mountain Lake Township and Mountain Lake are one community, graded once. Compare Mountain Lake with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
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.