Only 12 counties have home ownership rates below the state average. E ight of these are counties with colleges Stearns, Winona, Blue Earth, Lyon, Stevens, Clay, Beltrami and Polk. In addition, Hennepin, Ramsey, Benton and Pennington counties have below average rates of home ownership. Home ownership rates in the central cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul were 51.4 and 54.8 percent, respectively. Low rates in these cities depressed rates in Hennepin and Ramsey counties the only counties below the national average.
Seasonal housing is concentrated in the northern parts of the state.
In three counties Aitkin, Cook and Itasca more than 40 percent of housing is seasonal. In six other counties, the percentage is greater than 25 percent. Seasonal housing makes up about 5 percent of all housing in Minnesota. Vacancy rates in all housing were very low in the 1990s. Only six counties have vacancy rates greater than 10 percent.