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Good Question: How Many People Own Cabins In Minnesota?

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Thousands of Minnesotans returned from the lake today after a long weekend. If you were on the road, you probably saw the traffic coming home from the cabin. Lots of people rent or are invited to the lake.

So how many people own cabins in Minnesota? Good Question.

The unofficial start to cabin season is here, as many Minnesotans typically head north.

"They just disappear early Friday. And it's very quiet on the weekends for those of us who don't have cabins," Carey Lotton said.

According to the Department of Revenue, there are 124,000 seasonal, recreational, residential properties in Minnesota.

"Some hunting lands, mostly it's cabins," Jeff Forester, executive director of Minnesota Lake and Rivers Advocates, said.

Forester says most people travel two and a half hours to get to the cabin. So how do they classify cabins?

"It's a property or a home that you own in Minnesota that isn't where you vote," Forester said.

Most Minnesotans have a connection to cabin culture. The average cabin owner is 67 years old, according to Forester.

"The average household income is about $58,000 a year, so not the wealthy, wealthy, wealthy people," Forester said. "It has been in continuous family ownership for 37 years."

While there are officially 124,000 owners in the state, if you add in kids, grandkids and others that have access to a family cabin, we could have millions of cabin owners in Minnesota.

The highest number of cabin owners in Minnesota come from Victoria, followed by Edina. About 20 percent of owners are from out of state and, of course, a number of Minnesotans also own cabins in neighboring states.

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