Rice Lake Minnesota Map

About Rice Lake, Minnesota

Rice Lake is a locality in Steele County, Minnesota, United States. It is a small community with a population of 274. The population density is 10.1 people per km². Rice Lake is located at 47.3883°N, 95.5244°W. It observes the Central Time (America/Chicago) timezone. ZIP codes: 55060, 56621, 55349.

Rice Lake defines the horizon with a quiet, expansive flatness where the sky claims more territory than the land itself. It lies 9.1 miles east-northeast of Owatonna, MN (from Owatonna, MN: bearing 78°T), and is situated 16.9 miles southeast of Faribault. The ground here is a mosaic of heavy soil and dense woodland, shaped by the slow, deliberate work of seasonal frost and the quiet movement of water. Maple Creek cuts a thin, dark line through the brush, its current steady and unassuming as it feeds the low-lying basins. At Rice Lake State Park, the landscape opens into tall grasses and thickets that hold the morning mist long after the sun has climbed. The light at dusk here has a peculiar, bruised quality, turning the expanse a deep, slate gray that seems to pull the heat from the air and replace it with the scent of damp earth and cooling timber.

Rice Lake remains anchored to a rhythm dictated by the harvest and the long, endurance-testing winters that define the regional character. The economy pulls its strength from the soil and the legacy of early settlers who cleared the brush to carve out small, persistent farms. There is a lean, functional beauty in the architecture of the local barns and silos, which stand as solitary markers of a life tied to the cycle of the seasons. People here carry a reserved, sturdy temperament, a byproduct of a landscape that demands patience and a steady hand. While Sugarloaf Hill rises in the distant, hazy blue of the far-off terrain, the immediate life of Rice Lake centers on the quiet labor of the fields and the seasonal migrations of wildlife that frequent the protected wild spaces nearby.

About This Rice Lake Map Page

This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Rice Lake, Minnesota. Coordinates: 47.388299, -95.524367. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.

Detailed location data for Rice Lake includes the ZIP code (55060, 56621, 55349), telephone area code (612, 952, 218), county seat of Steele County (Owatonna), and school district assignment (Bagley Public School District).

Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.