Nearby cities
How Nowthen compares
A side-by-side look at services, tax rates, road mileage, and amenities for Nowthen and its Anoka County neighbors, plus Elk River (which shares our school district). Where one city has a service Nowthen doesn't — municipal water, a paid fire department, a city library — you can see it here. Where Nowthen has more gravel road than most, that also shows.
Numbers are best-effort, not authoritative.
Population from MN State Demographer (2023). Tax-capacity rates from Anoka County abstract. Road mileage and park acreage from city public-works disclosures and MnDOT. A real interactive map view is coming later — this is the table-first first pass.
Nowthen Anoka County | Andover Anoka County | Elk River Sherburne County | Ham Lake Anoka County | East Bethel Anoka County | Oak Grove Anoka County | St. Francis Anoka County | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basics | |||||||
| Population | 5,104 (2023) | 33,574 (2023) | 26,230 (2023) | 17,066 (2023) | 14,225 (2023) | 8,854 (2023) | 8,164 (2023) |
| County | Anoka | Anoka | Sherburne | Anoka | Anoka | Anoka | Anoka |
| School district | ISD 728 (Elk River) | ISD 11 (Anoka-Hennepin) | ISD 728 (Elk River) | Multiple (ISD 11, ISD 728) | Multiple (ISD 11, ISD 15) | Multiple (ISD 11 Anoka-Hennepin, ISD 15 St. Francis) | ISD 15 (St. Francis) |
| City tax-capacity rate (pay 2024) | 46.12% | 35.68% | 56.41% | 41.31% | 50.23% | 44.85% | 72.34% |
| Public safety | |||||||
| Policing | Anoka Co. Sheriff (contract) Contracts with Anoka County Sheriff for patrol coverage. | Anoka Co. Sheriff (contract) | City police department Elk River Police Department — its own city force. | Anoka Co. Sheriff (contract) | Anoka Co. Sheriff (contract) | Anoka Co. Sheriff (contract) | Anoka Co. Sheriff (contract) |
| Fire | Paid-on-call / volunteer Nowthen Fire Department — paid-on-call structure. | Paid (career) Andover Fire Department — combination paid/paid-on-call with full-time chief. | Paid (career) | Paid (career) | Paid (career) East Bethel Fire Department — combination paid/paid-on-call. | Paid-on-call / volunteer | Paid-on-call / volunteer |
| Utilities | |||||||
| Water | Private wells | City utility | City utility | Mixed | Mixed | Private wells | City utility |
| Sewer | Private septic | City utility | City utility | Mixed | Mixed | Private septic | City utility |
| Curbside trash | Open haulers | Open haulers | Open haulers | Open haulers | Open haulers | Open haulers | City contract |
| Recycling drop-off | — no | ✓ yes | ✓ yes | ✓ yes | ✓ yes | — no | ✓ yes |
| Roads (city-maintained) | |||||||
| Paved miles | 35 | 240 | 220 | 140 | 110 | 75 | 55 |
| Gravel miles | 28 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 25 | 30 | 8 |
| % paved | 56% | 98% | 100% | 90% | 81% | 71% | 87% |
| Parks & amenities | |||||||
| Park acres | 110 | 750 | 1,100 | 510 | 410 | 250 | 195 |
| Number of parks | 5 | 28 | 35 | 19 | 14 | 8 | 10 |
| Outdoor pool | — | — | ✓ | — | — | — | ✓ |
| City library | — | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Community center | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ice arena | — | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
What stands out for Nowthen
- No municipal water or sewer. Nowthen residents are on private wells and septic. Of the neighbors here, only Oak Grove shares that profile; St. Francis, Andover, and Elk River all run municipal utilities.
- Sheriff contract for policing. Like most rural Anoka County cities, Nowthen pays for sheriff coverage rather than running its own department. Only Elk River (in Sherburne County) has a city police department.
- A lot of gravel road for a small city. About 44% of Nowthen's city-maintained roads are gravel — higher than most neighbors.
- No city pool, library, community center, or ice arena. Council priorities and tax base size both contribute. Andover and Elk River — much larger neighbors — carry most of those big amenities for the region.
See also: where your property tax goes · city budget flow diagram