Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,967, platted in 1872.
The best of Ortonville’s subject grades are an A for cost of living and an A− for walkability and history; the weakest is a D for incomes. Ortonville’s average trip to work is 11 minutes, against 23 minutes in Minnesota’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. On incomes, just 30 of Minnesota’s 574 towns do worse. Only 13 of Minnesota’s 574 towns score higher on history. Ortonville has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Ortonville beats most towns.
Big Stone County CourthouseEach subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Minnesota), ordered by how far Ortonville is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 768 in 1890, 2,021 in 2020. The archive holds 10 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 3 maps from 1953 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ortonville, 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 Ortonville.
The typical Ortonville home is worth about $206,000, up 10.9% in a year, 41% below the Minnesota typical home. Ortonville’s median rent is $747 a month, below both the Minnesota town median ($1,196 a month) and the median of U.S. towns ($1,185 a month).
| Ortonville | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $747 a month | $1,196 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 78% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by the Ortonville Public Schools. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knoll ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 282 | B+ |
| Ortonville SecondaryLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 228 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MN on state tests and graduation
Ortonville has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 3° and about 32 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
43% of Ortonville’s working residents work right in town. The median household income in Ortonville is $56,000. Jobs based in Ortonville fell to 945 in 2023, 60 fewer than in 2013.
| Ortonville | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 43% | 9.8% | 8% |
| Work from home | 6.1% | 14% | 11% |
| Median household income | $56,000 | $90,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 7% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 58% of U.S. communities. Since 1997, 36 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Ortonville.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Ortonville beats the Minnesota average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 11. 28% of Ortonville adults sleep under 7 hours. Among 272 Minnesota towns, just 9 have a higher share of adults who have diabetes than Ortonville.
| Ortonville | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 30% | 36% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 23% | 25% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 10% | 12% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 30% | 33% |
| What stands out | Ortonville | MN |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 82% | 76.1% |
| More adults with heart disease | 9.1% | 5.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
0.4 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves. Ortonville’s trail density is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Ortonville | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.4% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Nielson Park | — | 5 |
| 2. Central Park | — | 3 |
| 3. Lakeside Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Ortonville; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Ortonville residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Minnesota.
3 places in Ortonville on the National Register of Historic Places.
6 notable people were born in Ortonville.
City in Minnesota, United States
Ortonville is a city in and the county seat of Big Stone County in the U.S. state of Minnesota at the southern tip of Big Stone Lake, along the South Dakota border. The population was 2,021 at the 2020 census. Big Stone Lake State Park is nearby.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Ortonville.
| Town | MN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ortonville · Ortonville Township | — | — | A | — | B+ | B− |
| Big Stone Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Ortonville has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Ortonville reports no FBI crime data of its own. Big Stone Township isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Ortonville Township and Ortonville are one community, graded once. Compare Ortonville 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.
Ortonville was platted in 1872 and has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places. 6 notable people were born here, including Dan Jurgens and Don Gerhardt.
