City safety & data profile
Forest LakeMN
Forest Lake, MN is a 20K-resident city in Washington County with a median household income of $92,944.
Washington County, Minnesota. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Forest Lake, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Forest Lake has a population larger than 43% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, and a median home value of $393,500.
Data updated 2026-09-03
- 20K
- Population (place)
- Bottom 44%
- By size
- $92,944
- Median income (place)
- $393,500
- Median home (place)
- 7%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on Forest Lake
Forest Lake posts a median household income higher than 63% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks.
- Top 37%
- by median income, US cities
Where Forest Lake income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$92,944 Top 37% higher than 63% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles
Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year
Largest cities in MN
Population among 97 MN places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.
- Minneapolis
Minneapolis, MN
410,939 residents
- Saint Paul
Saint Paul, MN
303,176 residents
- Rochester 112,225
Rochester, MN
112,225 residents
- Bloomington 86,435
Bloomington, MN
86,435 residents
- Duluth 86,110
Duluth, MN
86,110 residents
- Brooklyn Park 79,149
Brooklyn Park, MN
79,149 residents
- Plymouth 75,907
Plymouth, MN
75,907 residents
- Maple Grove 68,385
Maple Grove, MN
68,385 residents
- Woodbury 67,855
Woodbury, MN
67,855 residents
- Eagan 66,286
Eagan, MN
66,286 residents
What this shows Minneapolis is the largest MN city on this list; Rogers leads median income.
Highest median incomes in MN
Median household income among the same 97-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.
- Rogers
Rogers, MN
$158,750 median
- Chanhassen
Chanhassen, MN
$143,651 median
- Lakeville
Lakeville, MN
$139,041 median
- Andover
Andover, MN
$137,593 median
- Plymouth
Plymouth, MN
$136,534 median
- Prior Lake
Prior Lake, MN
$134,255 median
- Mendota Heig…
Mendota Heights, MN
$132,768 median
- Maple Grove
Maple Grove, MN
$132,731 median
- Saint Michael
Saint Michael, MN
$131,274 median
- Eden Prairie
Eden Prairie, MN
$130,489 median
What this shows Rogers posts the highest place-level median income in MN; Minneapolis is largest by headcount.
The quick read
Reading Forest Lake, MN beyond the headline numbers
Forest Lake sits inside Washington County, Minnesota, at roughly 45.28°N, -92.99°W. Population 19,618, $92,944 median household income. Median home value $393,500, median rent $1,421. Poverty rate 7%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
At 7%, poverty in Forest Lake, MN runs below the midpoint of reporting cities -- enough to matter locally, not enough to dominate the city's profile.
A median home in Forest Lake runs about 4.2 times median household income, above the midpoint. Multiples in this range usually mean buyers are arriving from outside the local wage base.
17.7% of Forest Lake workers are remote, above the midpoint of reporting cities.
Among the CDC measures on this page, short sleep duration departs furthest from its peer median: 26.8% in Forest Lake, the lowest-prevalence quarter of the 3,852 cities reporting that measure.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Forest Lake from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.
10-Year Trends 2013–2024
County-level trend (Washington County): Forest Lake's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.
Economics
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Median Rent | |
| Poverty Rate | 7% -44% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 4.3% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 35.4% |
| Work From Home | 17.7% |
| Public Transit | 0.2% |
Population
Health Profile 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
What alerts and safety updates affect Forest Lake?
No area-tagged alerts are on record for Forest Lake right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet MN-FOREST-LAKE · Forest Lake
Forest Lake: no area-tagged alerts on record — state hubs carry the live CAP stream.
- FEED-QUIET No tagged alerts
- LEAD-NONE Feed idle
- DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed
Counts reflect published articles tagged to Forest Lake; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Minnesota state hubs · Methodology
Read with this city profile
Frequently Asked Questions 5
What is the population of Forest Lake, MN? ▼
What is the median household income in Forest Lake? ▼
What is the median home value in Forest Lake? ▼
What are the top health concerns in Forest Lake? ▼
What is the median age in Forest Lake? ▼
Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for Forest Lake, both outside Minnesota so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.
Similar poverty rate
Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside MN (7% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside MN ($92,944 here).
Compare Forest Lake with another city
Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.
Nearby Cities 8
Using Forest Lake's profile
Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.
- Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Forest Lake area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
- Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
- Compare Forest Lake against Minnesota peers on any ranking lens. Explore Minnesota
Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.
Data Sources
All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Washington County) where that is the smallest published unit.
Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.