Winona is also a major college town with a large number of people who are 18 years or older and attending college. As is often the case in college towns, the many students that live in Winona have a strong influence on the local culture and entertainment scene, which may seem dormant by comparison in the summer months when much of the student population is away. In the fall, the return of students has a reinvigorating effect on the community. Because colleges are lasting institutions, they have a stabilizing effect on the economy by providing direct local benefits such as jobs for faculty and staff and spending by students. Winona’s economy is one such example of this.
Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 15.29 minutes getting to work every day.
The citizens of Winona are very well educated compared to the average community in the nation: 34.77% of adults in Winona have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.
The per capita income in Winona in 2022 was $34,197, which is lower middle income relative to Minnesota, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $136,788 for a family of four. However, Winona contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Winona is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Winona home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Winona residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Winona include German, Norwegian, Irish, Polish, and English.
The most common language spoken in Winona is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Miao/Hmong.
