Baxter vs Brainerd

A side-by-side comparison of Baxter and Brainerd: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Brainerd has the higher population (14,474 vs 8,804 in Baxter). Baxter has the higher median household income ($71,272 vs $53,705 in Brainerd). Baxter has the higher median home value ($298,400 vs $178,600 in Brainerd).

Population, income & housing

	Baxter	Brainerd
Population	8,804	14,474
Median age	42.9 yrs	36.1 yrs
Median household income	$71,272	$53,705
Median home value	$298,400	$178,600
Median gross rent	$1,123	$848
Housing units	3,921	6,692
Homeownership rate	62.0%	57.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.7%	19.5%
Unemployment rate	2.1%	8.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Baxter	Brainerd
Population	8,202 → 8,804 (+7.3%)	13,373 → 14,474 (+8.2%)
Median household income	$71,220 → $71,272 (+0.1%)	$34,371 → $53,705 (+56.3%)
Median home value	$208,500 → $298,400 (+43.1%)	$117,900 → $178,600 (+51.5%)
Median gross rent	$998 → $1,123 (+12.5%)	$733 → $848 (+15.7%)

Baxter

Population

8,2028,804

Median household income

$71,220$71,272

Median home value

$208,500$298,400

Median gross rent

$998$1,123

Brainerd

Population

13,37314,474

Median household income

$34,371$53,705

Median home value

$117,900$178,600

Median gross rent

$733$848

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Baxter	Brainerd
Under 5	3.9%	8.0%
5 to 17	17.7%	13.4%
18 to 24	8.7%	10.4%
25 to 34	9.5%	16.5%
35 to 44	12.6%	13.5%
45 to 54	12.3%	8.1%
55 to 64	11.9%	11.9%
65 to 74	12.4%	9.2%
75 and over	11.1%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Baxter	Brainerd
White (non-Hispanic)	95.3%	89.5%
Black or African American	0.1%	1.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	1.6%
Asian	0.6%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	1.3%
Two or more races	0.2%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	3.6%	2.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Baxter	Brainerd
No high school diploma	3.1%	8.0%
High school graduate	20.8%	34.4%
Some college or associate's	38.4%	38.0%
Bachelor's degree	23.2%	12.9%
Graduate or professional degree	14.4%	6.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Baxter	Brainerd
Drove alone	73.8%	79.0%
Carpooled	8.1%	10.8%
Public transit	0.0%	1.3%
Walked	0.8%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.9%
Worked from home	16.6%	4.5%
Other means	0.3%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Baxter	Brainerd
1-unit, detached	63.0%	59.1%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	4.8%
2 to 4 units	4.9%	7.3%
5 to 19 units	3.7%	14.0%
20 or more units	22.4%	10.7%
Mobile home & other	1.3%	4.1%

Poverty & households

	Baxter	Brainerd
Poverty rate	10.8%	16.7%
Average household size	2.29	2.17
Mean commute (minutes)	20	19
Median year structure built	1999	1970