Category: Our Research Reports

Providing housing for a community or region’s population is complex and dynamic. A healthy housing market should be able to provide housing for most people and their diverse needs through a combination of natural churn and new construction. In rural areas, however, economic and demographic forces are at work creating a housing shortage that many communities ...

Each year, the Center for Rural Policy and Development produces the State of Rural Minnesota report, a brief update on the economy and demography of rural Minnesota. As policy discussions concerning rural Minnesota unfold, it is important to understand the past, present, and potential futures of our rural regions.

The number of students choosing to open enroll in Greater Minnesota has been trending upward consistently since the policy was developed, but within the last ten years, these patterns have been intensifying, and in such a way that they are impacting how districts plan their programming, busing, and finances.

Last year’s report, “A Quiet Crisis: Minnesota’s Child Care Shortage,” raised a major conversation on the child care shortage facing all of Minnesota and the impact it is having on just not families but also on employers and the economy. A year later, we’re revisiting the issue with a two-page update, “Child Care’s Quiet Crisis: ...

Back in 2013, the Center released a report and fact sheet on the future of highway funding for Greater Minnesota, Roads Less Traveled: How emerging issues are creating hazards for rural highway funding.[1] The report and its accompanying fact sheet, Rough Roads Ahead, discussed how policy changes and our own driving habits are shaping the ...

May 2017 In 2014, the Center took a serious look at the issue of water in Minnesota. Can the Land of 10,000 Lakes really have a problem with its water supply? It turns out that yes, it can. In a follow-up to this article, we partnered with the Center for Small Towns at the University ...

Limited resources are putting growing pressure on rural communities May 2017 By Marnie Werner, Research Director The mobile crisis and outreach teams of the Northern Pines Mental Health Center in Brainerd are busy. In 2016, they made 1,200 calls in the counties they cover—Aitkin, Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd and Wadena—and most of those calls ...

Each year, the Center assembles the latest demographic and economic data to create the State of Rural Minnesota report. Most of the data used for the presentation can also be found at our Atlas of Minnesota Online. Click here to see the State of Rural Minnesota presentation. — Updated November 2016

September 2016 By Marnie Werner, Research director A crisis has been quietly brewing throughout Minnesota and the nation for many years now. People have been getting out of the in-home family child care business at a disturbing rate, creating a severe shortage over most of the state. And while statewide data makes it appear that ...