Like all Minnesotans, Minnesota’s renters want safe, affordable homes for themselves and their families. But some folks earning low wages or on fixed incomes struggle to afford the cost of housing and other basic necessities. By providing property tax refunds to qualifying homeowners and renters, the state of Minnesota helps bring down one of the costs of housing and creates a more equitable tax system.
The property tax refund for renters is often called the Renter’s Credit. It is a tax refund for low- and moderate-income renters whose property taxes are considered high for their income level. The Renter’s Credit refunds a portion of the property taxes that renters have paid through their rents. The credit is particularly targeted to the state’s lowest-income households; for 2023, 59 percent of households receiving the credit had incomes of $40,000 or less.1 The maximum household income to qualify for the Renter’s Credit for the 2023 tax year was $73,270.2
For the 2023 tax year, more than 310,000 Minnesota households received the Renter’s Credit, and the average amount of credit received was $855.3 Thirty percent of the households receiving the Renter’s Credit included senior citizens and/or people living with disabilities; their average credit was $988. The share of participating households that include seniors or people living with disabilities is higher in Greater Minnesota. In fact, in 22 Greater Minnesota counties, at least half of the participating households included seniors and/or persons living with disabilities.4
The Renter’s Credit helps advance racial equity. In Minnesota, people of color are more likely to be earning lower incomes and more likely to be renters. In 2023, the Minnesota homeownership rate was 72 percent, but the gap between people of color and white Minnesotans is unacceptably wide. Homeownership rates were 47 percent for Indigenous Minnesotans, 65 percent for Asian Minnesotans, 32 percent for Black Minnesotans, 56 percent for Hispanic Minnesotans, and 59 percent for Minnesotans of two or more races.5 This reflects current barriers to wealth-building and a history of policies that excluded African Americans and other people of color from homeownership.6
Starting with taxes filed in 2025, there were big changes for the Renter’s Credit that made it easier to access. Instead of filling out a separate Property Tax Refund return, Minnesotans now claim the Renter’s Credit on their state income tax return.7
Minnesotans in every county receive the Renter’s Credit. The table below illustrates the importance of the Renter’s Credit to residents of each Minnesota county and for the state as a whole.
Table 1: Renter’s Credits received by county of residence, Tax Year 2023
| County | Total Renter’s Credits | Participating Households | Average Renter’s Credit | ||
| Number | Share with seniors and/or persons with disabilities | All | Seniors and/or persons with disabilities | ||
| Aitkin | $348,090 | 458 | 57% | $760 | $888 |
| Anoka | $15,043,211 | 15,783 | 30% | $953 | $1,150 |
| Becker | $908,419 | 1,235 | 46% | $736 | $864 |
| Beltrami | $1,415,085 | 1,961 | 39% | $722 | $942 |
| Benton | $2,020,229 | 2,763 | 30% | $731 | $927 |
| Big Stone | $124,323 | 176 | 58% | $706 | $882 |
| Blue Earth | $3,136,233 | 4,360 | 27% | $719 | $941 |
| Brown | $721,974 | 1,105 | 48% | $653 | $835 |
| Carlton | $1,018,313 | 1,310 | 51% | $777 | $909 |
| Carver | $3,551,902 | 3,766 | 34% | $943 | $1,168 |
| Cass | $452,990 | 655 | 45% | $692 | $805 |
| Chippewa | $292,826 | 480 | 45% | $610 | $742 |
| Chisago | $1,439,104 | 1,667 | 45% | $863 | $963 |
| Clay | $2,493,523 | 3,277 | 34% | $761 | $894 |
| Clearwater | $128,651 | 196 | 54% | $656 | $785 |
| Cook | $91,719 | 155 | 36% | $592 | $520 |
| Cottonwood | $252,563 | 404 | 46% | $625 | $776 |
| Crow Wing | $2,267,212 | 3,043 | 43% | $745 | $885 |
| Dakota | $23,646,911 | 24,553 | 27% | $963 | $1,144 |
| Dodge | $359,483 | 559 | 35% | $643 | $716 |
| Douglas | $1,671,685 | 2,136 | 44% | $783 | $1,001 |
| Faribault | $264,738 | 399 | 45% | $664 | $843 |
| Fillmore | $341,251 | 558 | 49% | $612 | $663 |
| Freeborn | $906,602 | 1,344 | 40% | $675 | $855 |
| Goodhue | $1,576,135 | 2,041 | 46% | $772 | $899 |
| Grant | $138,766 | 191 | 54% | $727 | $913 |
| Hennepin | $83,136,505 | 91,574 | 24% | $908 | $1,022 |
| Houston | $347,368 | 580 | 47% | $599 | $686 |
| Hubbard | $519,699 | 676 | 49% | $769 | $908 |
| Isanti | $1,343,802 | 1,482 | 40% | $907 | $1,090 |
| Itasca | $1,146,736 | 1,511 | 48% | $759 | $941 |
| Jackson | $142,106 | 243 | 44% | $585 | $725 |
| Kanabec | $391,849 | 548 | 53% | $715 | $772 |
| Kandiyohi | $1,789,574 | 2,449 | 33% | $731 | $880 |
| Kittson | $51,767 | 93 | 62% | $557 | $580 |
| Koochiching | $209,472 | 380 | 51% | $551 | $659 |
| Lac Qui Parle | $85,932 | 155 | 61% | $554 | $618 |
| Lake | $279,681 | 353 | 54% | $792 | $939 |
| Lake Of The Woods | $40,658 | 80 | 46% | $508 | $565 |
| Le Sueur | $715,667 | 903 | 38% | $793 | $1,011 |
| Lincoln | $72,687 | 127 | 57% | $572 | $714 |
| Lyon | $946,603 | 1,502 | 41% | $630 | $763 |
| Mahnomen | $49,278 | 83 | 52% | $594 | $729 |
| Marshall | $73,661 | 142 | 37% | $519 | $654 |
| Martin | $565,332 | 825 | 46% | $685 | $895 |
| McLeod | $1,239,305 | 1,709 | 40% | $725 | $910 |
| Meeker | $534,289 | 781 | 40% | $684 | $838 |
| Mille Lacs | $673,779 | 974 | 43% | $692 | $749 |
| Morrison | $952,682 | 1,374 | 50% | $693 | $793 |
| Mower | $1,221,165 | 1,752 | 41% | $697 | $846 |
| Murray | $97,537 | 158 | 36% | $617 | $864 |
| Nicollet | $1,396,880 | 1,853 | 32% | $754 | $966 |
| Nobles | $528,735 | 789 | 31% | $670 | $793 |
| Norman | $61,827 | 108 | 56% | $572 | $712 |
| Olmsted | $7,562,056 | 9,357 | 26% | $808 | $983 |
| Otter Tail | $1,579,076 | 2,264 | 48% | $697 | $858 |
| Pennington | $322,032 | 548 | 45% | $588 | $685 |
| Pine | $588,906 | 838 | 51% | $703 | $773 |
| Pipestone | $122,730 | 220 | 44% | $558 | $633 |
| Polk | $647,796 | 1,144 | 41% | $566 | $623 |
| Pope | $333,004 | 414 | 54% | $804 | $974 |
| Ramsey | $39,321,764 | 44,366 | 26% | $886 | $999 |
| Red Lake | $51,289 | 107 | 53% | $479 | $557 |
| Redwood | $381,529 | 562 | 47% | $679 | $879 |
| Renville | $223,256 | 331 | 36% | $674 | $923 |
| Rice | $2,428,178 | 2,979 | 32% | $815 | $916 |
| Rock | $237,561 | 359 | 46% | $662 | $775 |
| Roseau | $262,079 | 444 | 46% | $590 | $714 |
| Scott | $5,874,359 | 6,118 | 26% | $960 | $1,126 |
| Sherburne | $3,082,800 | 3,457 | 29% | $892 | $1,049 |
| Sibley | $347,065 | 517 | 44% | $671 | $754 |
| St. Louis | $7,326,246 | 9,901 | 43% | $740 | $872 |
| Stearns | $7,865,643 | 10,088 | 29% | $780 | $977 |
| Steele | $1,693,868 | 2,062 | 40% | $821 | $969 |
| Stevens | $213,462 | 355 | 33% | $601 | $786 |
| Swift | $220,416 | 353 | 53% | $624 | $764 |
| Todd | $423,111 | 659 | 53% | $642 | $702 |
| Traverse | $37,403 | 62 | 58% | $603 | $652 |
| Wabasha | $441,940 | 703 | 40% | $629 | $724 |
| Wadena | $381,489 | 619 | 49% | $616 | $710 |
| Waseca | $531,337 | 788 | 42% | $674 | $858 |
| Washington | $10,549,555 | 10,558 | 33% | $999 | $1,263 |
| Watonwan | $188,468 | 324 | 47% | $582 | $660 |
| Wilkin | $126,407 | 209 | 58% | $605 | $740 |
| Winona | $1,571,326 | 2,542 | 37% | $618 | $831 |
| Wright | $4,205,448 | 4,854 | 33% | $866 | $1,020 |
| Yellow Medicine | $154,988 | 277 | 57% | $560 | $632 |
| Unknown / Other * | $3,836,099 | 5,449 | 14% | $704 | $1,102 |
| Total | $266,359,200 | 311,607 | 30% | $855 | $988 |
By Haleigh Sinclair and Nan Madden
[1] Minnesota Department of Revenue, Property Tax Research Unit.
[2] Minnesota Department of Revenue, 2023 Homestead Credit Refund (for Homeowners) and Renter’s Property Tax Refund Forms and Instructions.
[3] Except where otherwise noted, the data in this issue brief comes from Minnesota Department of Revenue, Property Tax Research Unit, and represent property tax refund claims filed in 2024 for tax year 2023.
[4] The starting point for calculating the Renter’s Credit is a percentage of the rent paid, which is considered the renter’s share of property taxes. Starting with refunds filed in 2012, this percentage of rent decreased from 19 percent to 17 percent, and it is still 17 percent today.
[5] Wilder Foundation, Minnesota Compass, Homeownership Rates by racial and ethnic group.
[6] Learn more from the University of Minnesota Mapping Prejudice Project, What is a Covenant?
[7] Minnesota Department of Revenue, Renter’s Property Tax Refund. Learn more at Minnesota Budget Project, Transformational changes to the Renter’s Credit are coming in 2025, January 2025.