Columbus vs Nowthen

A side-by-side comparison of Columbus and Nowthen: population, income, housing, and more.

Columbus and Nowthen are places in Minnesota. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Nowthen has the higher population (4,539 vs 4,211 in Columbus). Nowthen has the higher median household income ($134,491 vs $117,917 in Columbus). Nowthen has the higher median home value ($440,200 vs $439,200 in Columbus).

Population, income & housing

	Columbus	Nowthen
Population	4,211	4,539
Median age	47.2 yrs	40.5 yrs
Median household income	$117,917	$134,491
Median home value	$439,200	$440,200
Median gross rent	$1,534	—
Housing units	1,699	1,487
Homeownership rate	87.3%	97.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.3%	40.3%
Unemployment rate	1.3%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbus	Nowthen
Population	4,055 → 4,211 (+3.8%)	4,682 → 4,539 (-3.1%)
Median household income	$89,773 → $117,917 (+31.4%)	$107,688 → $134,491 (+24.9%)
Median home value	$275,300 → $439,200 (+59.5%)	$329,600 → $440,200 (+33.6%)
Median gross rent	$888 → $1,534 (+72.7%)	$1,607 → $1,474 (-8.3%)

Columbus

Population

4,0554,211

Median household income

$89,773$117,917

Median home value

$275,300$439,200

Median gross rent

$888$1,534

Nowthen

Population

4,6824,539

Median household income

$107,688$134,491

Median home value

$329,600$440,200

Median gross rent

$1,607$1,474

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbus	Nowthen
Under 5	4.4%	4.2%
5 to 17	14.2%	23.8%
18 to 24	8.3%	6.9%
25 to 34	9.7%	6.3%
35 to 44	11.4%	17.3%
45 to 54	12.4%	9.8%
55 to 64	21.6%	18.2%
65 to 74	14.3%	9.6%
75 and over	3.6%	3.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbus	Nowthen
White (non-Hispanic)	92.4%	95.7%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.9%	0.4%
Asian	4.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.5%	1.3%
Hispanic or Latino	0.2%	2.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbus	Nowthen
No high school diploma	1.7%	5.1%
High school graduate	31.3%	25.1%
Some college or associate's	37.6%	29.6%
Bachelor's degree	22.1%	20.7%
Graduate or professional degree	7.2%	19.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbus	Nowthen
Drove alone	79.2%	66.2%
Carpooled	5.1%	3.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.3%	12.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	15.4%	16.3%
Other means	0.0%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbus	Nowthen
1-unit, detached	92.3%	96.8%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	2.4%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.3%
20 or more units	3.4%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.6%

Poverty & households

	Columbus	Nowthen
Poverty rate	3.4%	3.6%
Average household size	2.57	3.12
Mean commute (minutes)	28	26
Median year structure built	1984	1995