I Was Not Expecting the Poorest City in Minnesota to Be This One

I truly was not expecting this result. A study was done to find the richest and poorest towns in every state, and Minnesota's poorest was named Bemidji.

The study was put on by Forbes and recapped by MoneyWise.com. Results are based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey five-year estimates.

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The median household income based on the study's parameters in Bemidji $32,193. Here is what they had to say about Minnesota's poorest town:

The “First City on the Mississippi” sits at the bottom of the list when it comes to household wealth in the state of Minnesota. Close to a third of the population is impoverished.

It’s a bicycle-friendly community with an abundance of trails, waterways, bakeries and boutiques.

And it’s also home to Bemidji State University and the Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues — renowned roadside landmarks.

At least they kept their recap as positive as they could.

On the contrary, Minnesota's most wealthy town is North Oaks. North Oaks began as a water source for St. Paul and then as a 5,000-acre research farm for railway tycoon James Jerome Hill. The Median household income according to the study is $178,816.

I really wasn't expecting Bemidji to be the poorest town, afterall they are home to a major college, have a population well over 15,000, and it's the largest commercial center between Grand Forks, North Dakota and Duluth. Apparently that wasn't enough to save it from the bottom spot on the Minnesota wealth list.