Recent estimates put Minneapolis rents 4.8% below the metro level and typical home values 15.5% lower.
Minneapolis’s estimated median monthly rent was $1,463, compared with $1,537 across the Twin Cities metro area, according to Apartment List’s October 2026 report, reflecting September rental-market data. The city’s median was $74 per month, or 4.8%, lower. Both figures cover all bedroom sizes.
Apartment List begins with Census Bureau rent statistics for households that recently moved, then updates those figures using rent changes observed through its platform. It tracks the same rental units over time, helping distinguish actual price changes from shifts in the mix of homes available. The method also adjusts for listing-sample bias to better represent the broader rental market.
These are modeled median rents for new leases, rather than a fresh survey of what all existing tenants pay. The comparison describes each market’s overall rent level; it does not establish that an equivalent home costs 4.8% less in Minneapolis or explain what caused the difference.
Sources: Apartment List’s Minneapolis Rent Report and rent estimates and methodology overview.
Minneapolis’s typical home value was $328,529, compared with $388,865 across the Twin Cities metro area in August 2026, according to Zillow’s Home Value Index. Minneapolis’s value was approximately $60,335, or 15.5%, lower. The comparison combines single-family homes and condos/co-ops.
Zillow measures the estimated value of the housing stock, including homes that have not recently sold. Its index draws on property-level estimates called Zestimates and tracks changes in those estimates over time. The headline measure represents homes in the middle of the value distribution—the 35th through 65th percentiles.
We used Zillow’s smoothed, seasonally adjusted series for both geographies and the same reporting month. We calculated the dollar difference by subtracting Minneapolis’s value from the metro value, then divided that difference by the metro value to obtain the percentage. Calculations use the unrounded figures.
These are modeled typical home values, rather than median prices of recently completed sales. The comparison reflects differences in each area’s housing stock, including home size, age, condition, and property type. It does not establish that an equivalent home would cost 15.5% less in Minneapolis.
Zillow updates its downloadable monthly data on the 16th of each month, allowing this comparison to be refreshed throughout the year.
Sources: Zillow home-value data and Home Value Index methodology.
I suspect home sales in Minneapolis are almost all existing home sales, as opposed to new home sales, and that the percentage of new home sales is considerably higher in the Metro. Would comparing existing home sales and new homes sales separately make a difference in the comparative numbers? (I’m also assuming nw homes are larger than existing homes.)
How do these relative prices compare historically?
Great question. I forwarded it to the team. >How do these relative prices compare historically?<
Housing Link is another good source for rental data. It is notoriously hard to get a good sense about apartment rents given it’s largely self-reported data, and third party sites do a better job capturing rental data from large buildings/institutional landlords rather than your mom-and-pop type landlords who might be owner-occupying a duplex or renting a 4plex that never gets listed on a public website.
Also, I would suggest looking at home prices in terms of price per square foot. That can give a better apples-to-apples comparison.
Thanks for this, I’ll make sure she sees it. The per square foot pricing was part of the original brief.
This is slop research.
Thanks for the feedback, Dan. This is the first piece from a new student intern, and we’re very much in the evaluation stage for all aspects of this project. If you’re open to it, I’d like to hear more specifics, regardless of how blunt. What wrong, what’s good (if anything), or even if we should abandon the idea of short form “research” altogether.