Carlson was raised in a Lutheran family in Anoka, Minnesota, the daughter of Karen and Lee Carlson.[3] She is of Swedish descent.[4] Her father owned a car dealership with her uncle.[3] She has two brothers and one sister.[3] Her grandfather was the pastor of the then second-largest Lutheran church in the United States.[5] She graduated from Anoka-Hennepin School District 11’s Anoka High School, where she was the 1984 class valedictorian.[6] One of her childhood nannies was Michele Bachmann, the future Republican congresswoman.[7]

She graduated from college with a sociology degree in 1990. Started working for CBS in 2000. No reference to what she did in teh 10 years in between.

Like Hasselback, her husband is a Sports guy.