Minnesota's statewide two-bedroom fair market rent is $973.
That is not an ordinary number. $973 is the administered minimum that recurs across HUD's FY2026 table — the figure that appears as the cheapest rent area in seventeen states.
Minnesota is one of only two states whose statewide median sits exactly on it. Georgia is the other.
And the Twin Cities are $1,709 — 76% above.
A note before you start. This is general education, not housing, legal or financial advice. Rent figures come from HUD's Fair Market Rents for FY2026, published under 24 CFR 888.113. An FMR is the 40th percentile of GROSS rent — rent plus tenant-paid utilities — for standard-quality units in a defined rent area, so roughly 60% of units cost more. Take-home figures are computed by this site's own tax engine for tax year 2026 on a single filer taking the standard deduction. Minnesota landlord-tenant law is outside this dataset.
1. What HUD says renting costs in Minnesota
| Unit size | Statewide fair market rent |
|---|---|
| Studio | $695 |
| 1 bedroom | $790 |
| 2 bedroom | $973 |
| 3 bedroom | $1,346 |
| 4 bedroom | $1,495 |
The two-to-three-bedroom step is $373, or 38% — $4,476 a year for one room, and much the largest step in the table.
The three-to-four step is $149, or 11%, which is small — the same pattern Vermont and Maine show, and for the same reason: in a housing stock of older single-family homes an extra bedroom is a room, not a different class of property.
Work out what rent your own income actually supports in Minnesota2. What a median at the floor means
Minnesota has 73 rent areas. Its median across them is $973 and its minimum is $973.
A median can only equal a minimum when at least half the observations sit on it. So at least 37 of Minnesota's 73 rent areas are priced at the administered minimum.
| Measure | Minnesota |
|---|---|
| Distinct rent areas | 73 |
| Cheapest 2-bedroom area | $973 |
| Dearest 2-bedroom area | $1,709 |
| Internal spread | 76% |
| Statewide median | $973 — the same as the floor |
Three things follow, and they are all practical.
Rural Minnesota is genuinely inexpensive to rent. Not relatively — absolutely. There is nothing cheaper than $973 anywhere in HUD's table, and half of Minnesota is there.
The statewide figure describes that half, not the metro. Roughly three-fifths of Minnesotans live in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, where the figure is $1,709.
And the $736 gap between them is the whole Minnesota rent question. Everything else on this page is detail.
3. Hennepin and Ramsey: one rent area
| County | Studio | 1 bed | 2 bedroom | 3 bedroom | Rent area |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hennepin County (Minneapolis) | $1,242 | $1,405 | $1,709 | $2,262 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI HUD Metro FMR Area |
| Ramsey County (St. Paul) | $1,242 | $1,405 | $1,709 | $2,262 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI HUD Metro FMR Area |
Identical on every line, because they are one rent area — and that rent area crosses into Wisconsin, which is why its name carries the MN-WI suffix. Wisconsin's most expensive rent area is also $1,709, the same figure, for exactly that reason.
A rent area is a measurement boundary. HUD reports one 40th-percentile figure across the whole Twin Cities metro rather than one per county. It is not a claim that Minneapolis and St. Paul cost the same, and this page cannot size the difference — the data does not contain it, and this site does not invent figures it has not measured.
Income required at 3x: $61,524 for the Twin Cities two-bedroom, against $35,028 statewide. A $26,496 gap in what a landlord will demand.
4. Three things a fair market rent is not
It is the 40th percentile, not the median. Roughly 60% of standard-quality units rent for more than the FMR.
It is GROSS rent, including tenant-paid utilities. Minnesota has one of the coldest winters in the continental United States, and heating is a large, seasonal, unavoidable cost that the FMR is designed to cover. The difference between heat included and heat not included is worth more here than in almost any state south of it.
It is per rent area, not per county — and Minnesota's largest rent area crosses a state line.
5. A 9.85% top rate, and a renter's credit
Minnesota's income tax runs from 5.35% to 9.85%, and that top rate is among the highest of any state. Minnesota allows a standard deduction, so the effective rate at ordinary salaries is well below the statutory top.
| Annual salary | 30% of gross | 30% of Minnesota take-home | The gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| $45,000 | $1,125 | $919 | $206 |
| $60,000 | $1,500 | $1,195 | $305 |
| $85,000 | $2,125 | $1,607 | $518 |
At a 3x landlord screen, Minnesota rent is 39.9% of take-home — one of the lower figures in this series, which is a direct consequence of a $973 statewide rent rather than of the tax code.
The renter's credit
Minnesota operates a refundable credit for renters, on the reasoning that a portion of the rent a tenant pays represents property tax passed through by the landlord. It is claimed on the state income tax return.
This is directly relevant to everything on this page and it is outside this dataset. The eligibility thresholds and credit amounts change and this site has not sourced them for 2026, so no figure here includes it — which means your real Minnesota rent burden is lower than every percentage in section 6 if you qualify.
Check the current rules against the Minnesota Department of Revenue directly. For a lower-income renter it can be worth several hundred dollars a year, which against a $973 rent is not a rounding error.
Minnesota also levies a state sales tax, with clothing exempt — an unusual exemption that materially favours a household budget. That is in no figure here either.
6. What the two-bedroom actually requires
| Statewide | Twin Cities | |
|---|---|---|
| 2-bedroom | $973 | $1,709 |
| Gross income a 3x screen demands | $35,028 | $61,524 |
What passing that screen leaves
| Statewide 2-bed | |
|---|---|
| Gross income required | $35,028 |
| Minnesota take-home, single filer | About $29,280 |
| Take-home per month | $2,440 |
| Rent | $973 |
| Rent as a share of take-home | 39.9% |
What the two-bedroom costs at real salaries
| Annual salary | Statewide | Twin Cities |
|---|---|---|
| $45,000 | 31.8% | 55.8% |
| $60,000 | 24.4% | 42.9% |
| $85,000 | 18.2% | 31.9% |
Rent as a share of take-home pay, before any renter's credit.
Statewide Minnesota clears HUD's 30% line at $60,000 and $85,000, at 24.4% and 18.2%, and is only just past it at $45,000.
The Twin Cities do not clear it at any salary shown, including 31.9% at $85,000.
At $45,000 the metro is 55.8% — severely cost-burdened — and the 3x screen on $1,709 demands $61,524, which is $16,524 more than the applicant earns.
And the renter's credit would improve the lower rows for anyone who qualifies. Section 5 explains why this page cannot say by how much.
7. Rent versus buy in Minnesota
Three things decide it, and the rent is not one of them:
Appreciation. Backward-looking, county-specific, and not a forecast.
Selling costs. Around 7% of the sale price, and it never comes back.
Ongoing carrying cost. Minnesota's effective property tax rates sit near the national middle. The state operates a homestead credit refund for owner-occupiers below an income threshold — the counterpart to the renter's credit — and the current rules are outside this dataset.
One Minnesota-specific factor: a hard-winter climate is expensive to own into. Frozen pipes, ice dams, roof snow loads, furnace failures in January — all of these are owner costs and none of them are renter costs. In a state this cold that asymmetry is larger than it is in most of the country, and it belongs in the break-even.
And the rural-versus-metro split cuts through this too. A $973 rent against a low rural house price is a very different comparison from a $1,709 metro rent against a metro price. Run the calculator with your own county rather than the state.
Run the Minnesota rent-versus-buy calculator with your own county.
8. What you can actually control
Look up the renter's credit. It is the most under-used item on this page and it exists specifically for the situation this article describes. This site has not sourced the 2026 amounts and therefore does not state them — go to the Minnesota Department of Revenue.
Never budget the Twin Cities on the statewide figure. $973 and $1,709 are $736 apart.
Rural Minnesota is at HUD's administered floor. There is nothing cheaper anywhere in the country, and at least half of Minnesota's rent areas are there.
Ask whether heat is included. Minnesota's winter makes this worth more than in almost any other state, and the FMR is a gross-rent figure that already assumes you are paying for it.
Get the landlord test and the budget test straight. 3x gross gets you approved. 30% of take-home is what you can carry. On the Twin Cities' $1,709 those are $61,524 of income and, at that income, $1,224 of rent — $485 less than the rent itself.
Existing debt does not appear in the landlord's test.
And a pre-tax 401(k) deferral works hard here. Minnesota's marginal rates are high, so deferring income saves meaningfully more state tax than it would in a flat-rate state.
9. How HUD's cost-burden thresholds actually work
The 30% and 50% figures quoted throughout this article are not rules of thumb. They are regulatory definitions, and knowing where they come from tells you what they are and are not good for.
HUD defines a household as "cost-burdened" when it spends more than 30% of gross income on housing, and "severely cost-burdened" above 50%. The threshold traces back to the National Housing Act, and HUD uses it to measure housing need and to set programme eligibility.
Three things follow from that origin, and all three matter to a renter:
It is measured against gross income because a housing programme can verify gross income. A caseworker can read a W-2. They cannot easily verify what your actual tax withholding, retirement deferrals and health premiums leave you. Gross is administratively tractable, not economically correct.
It counts housing costs, not just rent. HUD's measure includes utilities, which is precisely why the fair market rent is defined as gross rent. If you are comparing your own situation against the 30% threshold, include your utility bills — otherwise you are measuring a smaller number against the same line.
It is a population statistic before it is personal advice. The threshold exists to answer "how many households in this county are struggling," and it does that job well. It was never designed to tell one household what it can afford, and it does not account for household size, debt, childcare, medical costs, or the tax rate where you live.
Which is why this article reports both figures. In Minnesota a two-bedroom at $973 against a $35,028 income is exactly at HUD's 30% line by HUD's own measure. Against what actually reaches that household's account it is closer to 40%. Both numbers are correct; they answer different questions.
If you want one number to plan around, use 30% of take-home. It is the more conservative of the two, it is the one that reflects what you can actually spend, and it is what this site's calculator reports alongside the conventional figure.
10. What a landlord checks besides your income
The 3x income screen is the most visible test, and it is not the only one. None of the following is a legal requirement — they are common industry practice, and individual landlords differ.
Credit score. Most professionally managed buildings run a credit check, and many publish a minimum. A low score does not automatically disqualify you, but it commonly triggers a larger deposit or a guarantor requirement.
Rental history and references. Previous landlords, length of tenancy, and any eviction filings. An eviction filing can appear on a tenant screening report even where the case was dismissed, which is worth knowing if you have one.
The security deposit. How much a landlord may ask for, when it must be returned, and what may be deducted are all governed by state law, and those rules vary enormously. Check Minnesota's own statute — this site's rent dataset covers HUD fair market rents and does not cover landlord-tenant law, so nothing on this page should be read as describing it.
Application fees. Charged per applicant in most markets, and often non-refundable. Applying to several places at once is a real cost.
Guarantors and co-signers. Where an applicant fails the income screen, many landlords will accept a guarantor — commonly at a higher multiple, such as 80x the monthly rent in annual income rather than 36x. That is a much larger number than the tenant's own test, and it is the usual route for students and recent graduates.
Proof of income. Pay stubs, an offer letter, or tax returns for the self-employed. Self-employed applicants are frequently asked for two years of returns, which is a materially higher bar than a salaried applicant faces on the same income.
The practical point: the 3x screen decides whether you clear the first filter. Everything above decides whether you get the apartment, and several of those items cost money to fail.
11. When these figures change
HUD publishes fair market rents annually, effective at the start of the federal fiscal year on 1 October. The figures in this article are FY2026.
Three ways your area's number can move:
Re-measurement. HUD builds FMRs from American Community Survey data with more recent trend adjustments. A rent area whose measured market has moved will see its figure move with it.
Redefinition. HUD occasionally redraws rent areas — splitting a metro, adding a county to one, or creating a small-area FMR where ZIP-level figures replace a single metro figure. When that happens, a county's published rent can change substantially without any change in its actual market. Minnesota has 73 rent areas today; that count is not fixed.
The floor. HUD applies a national minimum. In FY2026 the two-bedroom floor is $973, and seventeen states have at least one rent area sitting on it. When the floor rises, every area at the floor rises with it — regardless of what happened locally.
What that means for planning. A fair market rent is a well-sourced annual snapshot, not a forecast. If you are signing a twelve-month lease, the figure that matters is the rent in the lease, and the FMR is context for judging whether that rent is reasonable for the area and the unit size.
Voucher holders should note one thing more. FMRs set the basis for Housing Choice Voucher payment standards, and a public housing agency may set its standard within a range around the FMR rather than exactly at it. Your agency's payment standard is the operative number, not the published FMR.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average rent in Minnesota? HUD's statewide fair market rent for a two-bedroom is $973 a month for FY2026, thirty-fourth-highest of the fifty states. Hennepin and Ramsey Counties both show $1,709, because they share the Twin Cities rent area.
Why is Minnesota's statewide figure exactly $973? Because $973 is the administered minimum that recurs across HUD's table, and at least 37 of Minnesota's 73 rent areas are priced at it. Minnesota and Georgia are the only two states whose statewide median sits on that floor.
What income do I need to rent a two-bedroom in Minneapolis? A 3x landlord screen on the Twin Cities rent area's $1,709 needs $61,524 a year. On the statewide $973 it needs $35,028.
Why do Hennepin and Ramsey County have the same rent? Because HUD places both inside the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI HUD Metro FMR Area and publishes one set of figures for the whole area — which also extends into Wisconsin.
Does Minnesota have a renter's credit? Yes — a refundable credit claimed on the state income tax return, on the reasoning that part of your rent represents property tax passed through by your landlord. This site has not sourced the 2026 thresholds and amounts, so no figure here includes it. Check the Minnesota Department of Revenue.
Is 30% of income a realistic rent budget in Minnesota? Outside the metro, yes — the statewide two-bedroom is 24.4% of take-home at $60,000. In the Twin Cities it is not: $1,709 is 31.9% of take-home even at $85,000, before any renter's credit.
Is Minnesota's 9.85% top rate a problem for renters? Not at the salaries on this page — it applies well above them, and Minnesota allows a standard deduction. At a 3x screen the state's rent burden is 39.9%, one of the lower figures in this series.
Should I buy in Minnesota instead? Minnesota's property tax sits near the national middle, and a homestead credit refund exists for owner-occupiers below an income threshold. The Minnesota-specific factor to weigh is that a hard-winter climate is expensive to own into — frozen pipes, ice dams and furnace failures are owner costs a renter does not carry.
What to do next
Minnesota's statewide rent sits on the national floor and its metro sits 76% above it, and a renter's credit exists that no figure here includes.
- Minnesota rent affordability calculator — the landlord's test and the budget test, side by side.
- Minnesota take-home pay — the graduated schedule at your own salary.
- Minnesota rent vs buy — the break-even year, computed rather than assumed.
- The 30% rule is measured against the wrong number — the full argument.
- Renting in the USA in 2026 — all fifty states, county by county.
Every figure on this site is sourced and dated. How we source every number.
Rent figures are HUD Fair Market Rents for FY2026, from HUD User, published under 24 CFR 888.113. An FMR is the 40th percentile of gross rent including tenant-paid utilities for standard-quality units in a defined rent area — not a market median. Hennepin and Ramsey Counties fall in the same rent area and therefore carry identical figures; that rent area extends into Wisconsin. Statewide figures are the median across Minnesota's 73 distinct rent areas, unweighted by population — which is why the statewide median equals the state minimum. Take-home figures are computed by this site's own tax engine for tax year 2026 on a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependents or pre-tax deferrals, using federal figures from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32; Minnesota's renter's credit is NOT included in any figure here. The 3x landlord screen is a common industry practice, not a legal standard. Minnesota landlord-tenant law, property tax rates, the renter's credit and the homestead credit refund are outside this dataset and are discussed qualitatively. This is general education and not housing, legal or financial advice.