Have You Ever Heard of These Really Small Minnesota Towns?

In 1985, John Mellencamp released a song called “Small Town”. He wrote the song about the town he was born in and then the town he lived in growing up. 

In the writing of this song, he recants all the things he learned to do while living in the small area and the reasons why he loved living there.  

According to data from the 2022 Population Estimates and the 2021 American Community Survey, there are 911 towns in Minnesota, and 551 of them that have less than 1,000 residents.  

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Now that’s what you call a “small town”, or is it? 32 of the towns in this survey data have less than 50 people in them.  We’re not going to look at all 32, but here’s a few.  

Urbank-

This is in Otter Tail County which is home to over 60,000 people. The county seat is Fergus Falls which is off of I-94 south of Detroit Lakes. The population in the report I found says that it’s 50, but some online reports say there are as many as 59 residents there. 

Baker-

Is an unincorporated Town in Clay County about 2 and a half hours West of St. Cloud. The Population of Clay County is over 65,000 but in Baker it is said to be 45. 

Humboldt-

Is in Kittson County in the Northwestern section of Minnesota on Route 75. Kittson County is one of the smaller ones in the state with a population of just over 4,200 people. The city is said to have a total area of 0.11 miles of land with a population of 39.  

Doran-

Is west of St. Cloud by about 2 hours and 20 minutes. Doran has a population of 34 with a total area of 0.21 square miles and is in Wilkin County that has a population of over 6,500.  

Goodland-

Is west of Duluth, north of St. Cloud. Goodland is in Itasca County which features a population of over 45,000. The last Census Numbers on the town were from 2010 and listed its population at 466. But the website Minnesota Demographics says that Goodland is the smallest town in Minnesota, with a population of 8. 

The site also lists these towns as having under 20 people in them: 

Barry= 15 residents. Barry is located in Big Stone County.  

Funkley and Kinbrae each with 12 residents living there according to the report.

Funkley is in Beltrami County while Kinbrae is in Nobles County.  

So, for all the population of the Twin Cities and some of the more heavily populated areas, Minnesota also features some of the smallest towns you’ll find anywhere.