Lake Crystal vs Mankato

A side-by-side comparison of Lake Crystal and Mankato: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Mankato has the higher population (44,882 vs 2,530 in Lake Crystal). Lake Crystal has the higher median household income ($77,979 vs $64,826 in Mankato). Mankato has the higher median home value ($250,600 vs $193,800 in Lake Crystal).

Population, income & housing

	Lake Crystal	Mankato
Population	2,530	44,882
Median age	38.9 yrs	26.8 yrs
Median household income	$77,979	$64,826
Median home value	$193,800	$250,600
Median gross rent	$644	$1,089
Housing units	1,149	19,186
Homeownership rate	79.7%	50.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.9%	36.2%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lake Crystal	Mankato
Population	2,625 → 2,530 (-3.6%)	42,093 → 44,882 (+6.6%)
Median household income	$64,083 → $77,979 (+21.7%)	$47,924 → $64,826 (+35.3%)
Median home value	$153,200 → $193,800 (+26.5%)	$179,400 → $250,600 (+39.7%)
Median gross rent	$719 → $644 (-10.4%)	$899 → $1,089 (+21.1%)

Lake Crystal

Population

2,6252,530

Median household income

$64,083$77,979

Median home value

$153,200$193,800

Median gross rent

$719$644

Mankato

Population

42,09344,882

Median household income

$47,924$64,826

Median home value

$179,400$250,600

Median gross rent

$899$1,089

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lake Crystal	Mankato
Under 5	5.2%	5.0%
5 to 17	21.4%	12.4%
18 to 24	6.2%	29.4%
25 to 34	9.5%	13.9%
35 to 44	14.0%	11.2%
45 to 54	13.5%	7.9%
55 to 64	11.8%	7.7%
65 to 74	12.4%	6.8%
75 and over	6.0%	5.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lake Crystal	Mankato
White (non-Hispanic)	93.6%	81.5%
Black or African American	0.0%	6.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.1%	3.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.6%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	3.6%	5.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lake Crystal	Mankato
No high school diploma	3.8%	6.4%
High school graduate	34.3%	21.9%
Some college or associate's	39.0%	35.5%
Bachelor's degree	14.5%	23.6%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	12.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lake Crystal	Mankato
Drove alone	83.9%	73.6%
Carpooled	10.3%	11.2%
Public transit	0.0%	2.7%
Walked	1.3%	3.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	4.0%	7.8%
Other means	0.5%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lake Crystal	Mankato
1-unit, detached	78.4%	45.1%
1-unit, attached	2.9%	8.6%
2 to 4 units	2.7%	8.5%
5 to 19 units	5.0%	11.7%
20 or more units	8.5%	21.2%
Mobile home & other	2.5%	4.9%

Poverty & households

	Lake Crystal	Mankato
Poverty rate	11.0%	21.7%
Average household size	2.28	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	26	15
Median year structure built	1972	1981