Bemidji vs Red Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Bemidji and Red Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Bemidji has the higher population (15,490 vs 1,506 in Red Lake). Red Lake has the higher median household income ($55,092 vs $53,850 in Bemidji). Bemidji has the higher median home value ($189,500 vs $136,000 in Red Lake).

Population, income & housing

	Bemidji	Red Lake
Population	15,490	1,506
Median age	29.8 yrs	28.2 yrs
Median household income	$53,850	$55,092
Median home value	$189,500	$136,000
Median gross rent	$1,004	$426
Housing units	7,112	512
Homeownership rate	41.9%	62.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	33.3%	10.3%
Unemployment rate	5.2%	13.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bemidji	Red Lake
Population	15,132 → 15,490 (+2.4%)	1,787 → 1,506 (-15.7%)
Median household income	$32,193 → $53,850 (+67.3%)	$40,250 → $55,092 (+36.9%)
Median home value	$139,900 → $189,500 (+35.5%)	$69,700 → $136,000 (+95.1%)
Median gross rent	$787 → $1,004 (+27.6%)	$568 → $426 (-25.0%)

Bemidji

Population

15,13215,490

Median household income

$32,193$53,850

Median home value

$139,900$189,500

Median gross rent

$787$1,004

Red Lake

Population

1,7871,506

Median household income

$40,250$55,092

Median home value

$69,700$136,000

Median gross rent

$568$426

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bemidji	Red Lake
Under 5	6.6%	8.2%
5 to 17	13.6%	31.9%
18 to 24	24.2%	6.4%
25 to 34	11.4%	14.5%
35 to 44	12.9%	13.6%
45 to 54	6.5%	9.0%
55 to 64	8.1%	11.2%
65 to 74	8.4%	3.7%
75 and over	8.3%	1.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bemidji	Red Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	74.0%	4.8%
Black or African American	1.8%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	9.8%	94.8%
Asian	0.8%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.0%
Two or more races	9.6%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	3.1%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bemidji	Red Lake
No high school diploma	7.6%	16.1%
High school graduate	24.3%	22.6%
Some college or associate's	34.8%	51.0%
Bachelor's degree	20.0%	5.1%
Graduate or professional degree	13.3%	5.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bemidji	Red Lake
Drove alone	77.9%	80.4%
Carpooled	7.6%	7.9%
Public transit	1.1%	7.9%
Walked	4.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	1.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.3%	3.8%
Other means	1.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bemidji	Red Lake
1-unit, detached	46.5%	97.3%
1-unit, attached	7.3%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	7.1%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	11.3%	0.0%
20 or more units	21.6%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	6.1%	2.7%

Poverty & households

	Bemidji	Red Lake
Poverty rate	20.7%	40.9%
Average household size	2.15	3.03
Mean commute (minutes)	17	9
Median year structure built	1980	1988