Milford vs Spirit Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Milford and Spirit Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

Milford and Spirit Lake are places in Iowa. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Spirit Lake has the higher population (5,469 vs 3,315 in Milford). Spirit Lake has the higher median household income ($73,627 vs $60,571 in Milford). Spirit Lake has the higher median home value ($218,400 vs $211,000 in Milford).

Population, income & housing

	Milford	Spirit Lake
Population	3,315	5,469
Median age	45.8 yrs	40.6 yrs
Median household income	$60,571	$73,627
Median home value	$211,000	$218,400
Median gross rent	$806	$885
Housing units	1,648	2,930
Homeownership rate	69.7%	66.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.1%	32.0%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	2.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Milford	Spirit Lake
Population	3,004 → 3,315 (+10.4%)	5,069 → 5,469 (+7.9%)
Median household income	$53,625 → $60,571 (+13.0%)	$54,293 → $73,627 (+35.6%)
Median home value	$145,700 → $211,000 (+44.8%)	$156,300 → $218,400 (+39.7%)
Median gross rent	$675 → $806 (+19.4%)	$848 → $885 (+4.4%)

Milford

Population

3,0043,315

Median household income

$53,625$60,571

Median home value

$145,700$211,000

Median gross rent

$675$806

Spirit Lake

Population

5,0695,469

Median household income

$54,293$73,627

Median home value

$156,300$218,400

Median gross rent

$848$885

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Milford	Spirit Lake
Under 5	2.1%	4.9%
5 to 17	20.0%	16.0%
18 to 24	6.6%	9.1%
25 to 34	9.5%	13.3%
35 to 44	10.5%	13.0%
45 to 54	16.1%	9.3%
55 to 64	13.0%	10.1%
65 to 74	14.5%	14.4%
75 and over	7.8%	10.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Milford	Spirit Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	96.0%	90.9%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.1%	5.7%
Hispanic or Latino	2.9%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Milford	Spirit Lake
No high school diploma	3.8%	2.8%
High school graduate	25.1%	28.4%
Some college or associate's	47.0%	36.9%
Bachelor's degree	19.7%	24.5%
Graduate or professional degree	4.4%	7.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Milford	Spirit Lake
Drove alone	76.4%	79.4%
Carpooled	11.9%	6.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.2%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.7%	10.2%
Other means	5.8%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Milford	Spirit Lake
1-unit, detached	63.8%	69.5%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	9.1%	6.0%
5 to 19 units	11.2%	9.1%
20 or more units	4.0%	6.1%
Mobile home & other	11.9%	6.3%

Poverty & households

	Milford	Spirit Lake
Poverty rate	5.3%	7.0%
Average household size	2.14	1.97
Mean commute (minutes)	19	14
Median year structure built	1984	1977