The 2 bedroom fair market rent for every Blue Earth County ZIP code HUD publishes, the typical market asking rent where Zillow covers the ZIP code, and the gap between them. Where the fair market rent meets or beats the market, a voucher tenant is the stronger offer.
Every one of the 1 Blue Earth County ZIP codes with both signals is voucher competitive: the 2 bedroom fair market rent meets or beats typical asking rent in all of them, with a median spread of -7.1 percent.
Only one Blue Earth County ZIP code carries both signals, Mankato 56001 at -7.1 percent, so treat this page as a single observation rather than a county pattern.
Zillow reaches 1 of the 12 Blue Earth County ZIP codes with HUD data, so the rest of the table carries a fair market rent and no market comparison. That is a coverage limit, not a signal that those ZIP codes are cheap or expensive: Zillow publishes only where listing volume supports an index. For those ZIP codes the fair market rent is still the number a payment standard is built from, and you should pull real comps for the rest. Every market rent on this page is the 2026-07 Zillow reading, so the column is one vintage and the medians below are comparable to each other.
Payment standards are not in this data. Vouchers in Blue Earth County run through a county or regional housing authority rather than any of the three large metro agencies. Each authority sets its own payment standard, normally between 90 and 110 percent of the published fair market rent, and can ask HUD to approve more. Nothing on this page adjusts for that. Check the payment standard with the housing authority: Metro HRA, Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, and Saint Paul Public Housing Agency.
| ZIP | City | 2BR FMR | Market rent | Zillow month | Spread | Spread % | Voucher fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56001 | Mankato | $1,290 | $1,199 | 2026-07 | -$91 | -7.1% | Voucher competitive |
| 56024 | Eagle Lake | $1,560 | no data | ||||
| 56078 | Pemberton | $1,540 | no data | ||||
| 56002 | Mankato | $1,230 | no data | ||||
| 56090 | Vernon Center | $1,200 | no data | ||||
| 56063 | Madison Lake | $1,180 | no data | ||||
| 56010 | Amboy | $1,060 | no data | ||||
| 56034 | Garden City | $1,060 | no data | ||||
| 56037 | Good Thunder | $1,060 | no data | ||||
| 56055 | Lake Crystal | $1,060 | no data | ||||
| 56065 | Mapleton | $1,060 | no data | ||||
| 56080 | Saint Clair | $1,060 | no data |
Sorted from the most voucher friendly spread to the least, with ZIP codes that have no market rent at the end. Spread is market rent minus the 2 bedroom fair market rent, and the Zillow month column is the reading month behind that market rent. Click any ZIP code for its bedroom table, its rent trend, and the six nearest ZIP codes, or open the Blue Earth County rent page for the wider rent picture.
In 1 of the 1 Blue Earth County ZIP codes that carry both a HUD fair market rent and a Zillow market rent, the 2 bedroom fair market rent meets or beats typical asking rent. The county median 2 bedroom FMR is $1,120 for FY2026 against a median market rent of $1,199 as of 2026-07, a median spread of -7.1 percent. That is a screening signal, not a payment standard.
On this data it is Mankato 56001, where the 2 bedroom fair market rent of $1,290 sits -7.1 percent against a typical asking rent of $1,199. Mankato 56001 is the other end at -7.1 percent. Unit condition, bedroom count, and the specific block still decide the actual rent.
This data does not include payment standards. A public housing authority sets its own payment standard, normally between 90 and 110 percent of the published fair market rent, and can ask HUD to approve more. None of that is in this data. Confirm the standard with the housing authority that administers the voucher. Applied to the Blue Earth County median 2 bedroom FMR of $1,120, a 90 to 110 percent band works out to roughly $1,008 to $1,232, which is a wide enough range to change whether a deal works.
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