Barnum vs Big Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Barnum and Big Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Barnum has the higher population (491 vs 351 in Big Lake). Big Lake has the higher median household income ($84,583 vs $49,583 in Barnum). Big Lake has the higher median home value ($251,000 vs $131,300 in Barnum).

Population, income & housing

	Barnum	Big Lake
Population	491	351
Median age	45.3 yrs	39.8 yrs
Median household income	$49,583	$84,583
Median home value	$131,300	$251,000
Median gross rent	$902	—
Housing units	263	208
Homeownership rate	57.3%	88.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.8%	25.4%
Unemployment rate	10.3%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Barnum	Big Lake
Population	649 → 491 (-24.3%)	378 → 351 (-7.1%)
Median household income	$57,100 → $49,583 (-13.2%)	$75,833 → $84,583 (+11.5%)
Median home value	$115,100 → $131,300 (+14.1%)	$200,000 → $251,000 (+25.5%)
Median gross rent	$771 → $902 (+17.0%)	$104 → $99 (-4.8%)

Barnum

Population

649491

Median household income

$57,100$49,583

Median home value

$115,100$131,300

Median gross rent

$771$902

Big Lake

Population

378351

Median household income

$75,833$84,583

Median home value

$200,000$251,000

Median gross rent

$104$99

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Barnum	Big Lake
Under 5	3.3%	2.3%
5 to 17	23.0%	17.4%
18 to 24	5.9%	7.4%
25 to 34	8.4%	12.8%
35 to 44	9.2%	17.7%
45 to 54	15.7%	8.0%
55 to 64	12.8%	13.4%
65 to 74	9.8%	17.4%
75 and over	12.0%	3.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Barnum	Big Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	94.7%	63.5%
Black or African American	0.8%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	28.2%
Asian	0.0%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.3%	5.1%
Hispanic or Latino	0.2%	2.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Barnum	Big Lake
No high school diploma	6.3%	6.6%
High school graduate	48.6%	35.5%
Some college or associate's	25.2%	32.4%
Bachelor's degree	13.8%	19.5%
Graduate or professional degree	6.0%	5.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Barnum	Big Lake
Drove alone	79.9%	80.8%
Carpooled	7.3%	11.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.8%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.7%	5.5%
Other means	1.4%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Barnum	Big Lake
1-unit, detached	53.6%	88.9%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	8.7%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	16.0%	5.8%
20 or more units	8.7%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	12.9%	5.3%

Poverty & households

	Barnum	Big Lake
Poverty rate	23.4%	11.4%
Average household size	2.15	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	23	28
Median year structure built	1970	1976