Minnesota Mobile Home Park Market Data: Parks, Lots and Lot Rent

Mobile home park market size in Minnesota

Minnesota has roughly 810 mobile home parks containing about 51,000 lots, which works out to an average of roughly 63 lots per park. That makes Minnesota the 19th-largest state by park count and the 21st-largest by lot count among the 50 states in this dataset.

Put in national terms, Minnesota holds about 1.8% of the roughly 45,740 parks and 1.3% of the roughly 4,012,300 lots tracked nationwide. The average park size of about 63 lots is a useful yardstick: a target park well above it is an institutional-scale asset, while one well below it is a small operator-owned community with different financing and management dynamics.

These counts are estimates compiled from U.S. Census manufactured-housing data, MHI reports, and state-level MHP surveys, and they move slowly — new parks are rarely built, and existing parks leave the count mainly through redevelopment. Treat them as a planning baseline for the Midwest market, not a precise census.

Lot rent levels in Minnesota

Average lot rent in Minnesota runs approximately $525 per month, which is about $48 above the national median and ranks Minnesota 18th-highest of the 50 states. Lot rent is the single most important number in an MHP model, because it is the recurring revenue line that occupancy and rent growth both act on.

The statewide average is a starting point, not a price-setting input. Lot rents vary widely by submarket within Minnesota: metro-area parks commonly run well above the state average, while rural parks often sit below it. When you benchmark a specific park, weight it against comparable communities in the same submarket rather than the state number.

Because Minnesota sits in the Midwest region, its rent level reflects that region's cost of living, land supply, and demand for affordable detached housing. Rising site-built home prices and rents continue to push households toward manufactured housing, which supports lot-rent stability even where headline growth is modest.

The size of Minnesota's lot-rent economy

Multiplying Minnesota's roughly 51,000 lots by the average lot rent of $525 per month implies an aggregate lot-rent economy on the order of $321 million per year. This is a derived estimate, not a surveyed figure: it assumes full occupancy at the average rent, so real collected revenue is lower and varies with vacancy and the spread between low and high rents across the state.

At the individual-park level, an average Minnesota park of about 63 lots at the state-average rent would gross on the order of $33,075 per month in lot rent before expenses, vacancy, and any park-owned-home income. Actual results depend heavily on occupancy, the tenant-owned-versus-park-owned home mix, and utility cost recovery.

The reason this math matters is that MHP is valued on stabilized net operating income. Small, durable moves — filling a few vacant lots, recovering water and sewer costs, trimming turnover — compound across a park of this size, which is why operators focus on occupancy and expense discipline rather than one-time rent spikes.

Regulatory climate and the Minnesota investment picture

Minnesota has no statewide rent cap on mobile-home lots, but some local jurisdictions regulate lot rents while the rest of the state does not. That makes underwriting submarket-specific: a park inside a rent-controlled city carries a capped growth trajectory, while a park a few miles away may not. Confirm the local ordinance status of each target before modeling rent growth.

Because coverage is uneven, Minnesota rewards operators who know the map. The same statewide market data can support very different business plans depending on whether a given park sits under a local cap. Read this page alongside the Minnesota rent-control and lease-law guides to see which protections attach where.

On valuation, a word of caution about cap rates: brokers have reported stabilized manufactured-housing-community cap rates nationally in a broad band roughly from the high-5% to the mid-7% range through 2024 to 2026, but that is an industry-wide, national band and not a Minnesota-specific figure. Where a particular Minnesota park prices within it depends on its size, occupancy, home-ownership mix, financeability, and the rent-regulation factors above. Anyone quoting a precise Minnesota cap rate should be able to show you the comparable sales behind it.

Market data at a glance in Minnesota

• Park count
  About 810 mobile home parks — 19th-most of the 50 states, roughly 1.8% of the national total.
• Lot count
  About 51,000 lots — 21st-most nationally, roughly 1.3% of tracked lots.
• Average park size
  Roughly 63 lots per park, a benchmark for spotting institutional-scale versus small operator-owned communities.
• Average lot rent
  About $525 per month — 18th-highest of the 50 states and about $48 above the national median.
• Aggregate lot-rent economy
  On the order of $321 million per year at full occupancy (a derived estimate: lots times rent times 12).
• Region
  Minnesota sits in the Midwest region, which shapes its cost structure and housing demand.
• Rent regulation
  No statewide cap, but some local jurisdictions regulate lot rents; underwriting is submarket-specific.
• Data caveat
  Counts are slow-moving estimates from Census, MHI, and state MHP sources; benchmark specific parks against same-submarket comps.

How operators and investors use this data in Minnesota

• Benchmark, then localize
  Use the Minnesota averages as a first screen, then re-underwrite each park against comparable communities in its own submarket rather than the state number.
• Underwrite to occupancy, not rent spikes
  With an average park near 63 lots, filling vacant pads and recovering utility costs usually beats chasing headline rent growth — especially where rent is regulated.
• Model the regulatory brake honestly
  Reflect Minnesota's rent-control posture in your rent-growth assumptions, and read the Minnesota rent-control and lease-law guides before finalizing a business plan.
• Distrust precise cap-rate quotes
  Treat any exact Minnesota cap rate as a claim to verify against real comparable sales, since national bands do not translate cleanly to a single state.
• Watch the slow supply story
  Because new Minnesota parks are rarely built and lots leave mainly through redevelopment, existing communities hold scarcity value; track redevelopment pressure in your submarkets.
• Track lot-level data in Lotly
  Lotly tracks Minnesota lot-level occupancy, rent, and infill stage so your real numbers replace these statewide estimates in day-to-day decisions.