Backus vs Cass Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Backus and Cass Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Cass Lake has the higher population (492 vs 287 in Backus). Backus has the higher median household income ($58,750 vs $47,045 in Cass Lake). Cass Lake has the higher median home value ($109,100 vs $104,700 in Backus).

Population, income & housing

	Backus	Cass Lake
Population	287	492
Median age	47.9 yrs	34.8 yrs
Median household income	$58,750	$47,045
Median home value	$104,700	$109,100
Median gross rent	$490	$730
Housing units	167	260
Homeownership rate	76.1%	27.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	8.5%	21.5%
Unemployment rate	1.6%	16.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Backus	Cass Lake
Population	322 → 287 (-10.9%)	633 → 492 (-22.3%)
Median household income	$40,804 → $58,750 (+44.0%)	$22,422 → $47,045 (+109.8%)
Median home value	$94,300 → $104,700 (+11.0%)	$46,400 → $109,100 (+135.1%)
Median gross rent	$808 → $490 (-39.4%)	$488 → $730 (+49.6%)

Backus

Population

322287

Median household income

$40,804$58,750

Median home value

$94,300$104,700

Median gross rent

$808$490

Cass Lake

Population

633492

Median household income

$22,422$47,045

Median home value

$46,400$109,100

Median gross rent

$488$730

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Backus	Cass Lake
Under 5	9.4%	6.1%
5 to 17	15.0%	31.3%
18 to 24	1.7%	5.9%
25 to 34	13.2%	7.1%
35 to 44	7.3%	9.6%
45 to 54	16.4%	5.5%
55 to 64	16.7%	10.0%
65 to 74	13.2%	15.0%
75 and over	7.0%	9.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Backus	Cass Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	72.5%	13.0%
Black or African American	7.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	68.1%
Asian	1.4%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	7.9%
Two or more races	18.5%	8.5%
Hispanic or Latino	0.3%	2.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Backus	Cass Lake
No high school diploma	4.7%	18.3%
High school graduate	41.5%	23.7%
Some college or associate's	45.3%	36.6%
Bachelor's degree	5.2%	20.4%
Graduate or professional degree	3.3%	1.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Backus	Cass Lake
Drove alone	89.7%	57.0%
Carpooled	4.8%	31.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	3.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.0%	5.2%
Other means	1.6%	3.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Backus	Cass Lake
1-unit, detached	78.4%	46.9%
1-unit, attached	6.0%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	3.6%	8.1%
5 to 19 units	2.4%	13.1%
20 or more units	0.0%	20.8%
Mobile home & other	9.6%	8.5%

Poverty & households

	Backus	Cass Lake
Poverty rate	19.2%	24.5%
Average household size	2.63	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	19	13
Median year structure built	1968	1969