Elbow Lake vs Wolf Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Elbow Lake and Wolf Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wolf Lake has the higher population (104 vs 78 in Elbow Lake). Wolf Lake has the higher median household income ($66,250 vs $30,000 in Elbow Lake). Wolf Lake has the higher median home value ($137,500 vs $120,800 in Elbow Lake).

Population, income & housing

	Elbow Lake	Wolf Lake
Population	78	104
Median age	40.5 yrs	22.7 yrs
Median household income	$30,000	$66,250
Median home value	$120,800	$137,500
Median gross rent	$600	$873
Housing units	66	37
Homeownership rate	60.0%	37.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	0.0%	17.9%
Unemployment rate	21.7%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Elbow Lake	Wolf Lake
Population	79 → 78 (-1.3%)	31 → 104 (+235.5%)
Median household income	$25,417 → $30,000 (+18.0%)	$61,875 → $66,250 (+7.1%)
Median home value	$137,500 → $120,800 (-12.1%)	$130,700 → $137,500 (+5.2%)
Median gross rent	$417 → $600 (+43.9%)	$730 → $873 (+19.6%)

Elbow Lake

Population

7978

Median household income

$25,417$30,000

Median home value

$137,500$120,800

Median gross rent

$417$600

Wolf Lake

Population

31104

Median household income

$61,875$66,250

Median home value

$130,700$137,500

Median gross rent

$730$873

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Elbow Lake	Wolf Lake
Under 5	3.8%	10.6%
5 to 17	24.4%	15.4%
18 to 24	3.8%	36.5%
25 to 34	14.1%	16.3%
35 to 44	7.7%	6.7%
45 to 54	6.4%	1.0%
55 to 64	7.7%	8.7%
65 to 74	19.2%	4.8%
75 and over	12.8%	0.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Elbow Lake	Wolf Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	14.1%	88.5%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	48.7%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	3.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	34.6%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	2.6%	7.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Elbow Lake	Wolf Lake
No high school diploma	37.7%	15.4%
High school graduate	32.1%	38.5%
Some college or associate's	30.2%	28.2%
Bachelor's degree	0.0%	17.9%
Graduate or professional degree	0.0%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Elbow Lake	Wolf Lake
Drove alone	61.1%	72.6%
Carpooled	22.2%	3.2%
Public transit	16.7%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	17.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.0%	6.5%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Elbow Lake	Wolf Lake
1-unit, detached	98.5%	35.1%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	1.5%	45.9%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	18.9%

Poverty & households

	Elbow Lake	Wolf Lake
Poverty rate	38.5%	9.4%
Average household size	2.60	2.97
Mean commute (minutes)	—	22
Median year structure built	1976	1995