Brainerd vs Crosby

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

Brainerd and Crosby 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 2,253 in Crosby). Brainerd has the higher median household income ($53,705 vs $43,250 in Crosby). Brainerd has the higher median home value ($178,600 vs $175,600 in Crosby).

Population, income & housing

	Brainerd	Crosby
Population	14,474	2,253
Median age	36.1 yrs	54.4 yrs
Median household income	$53,705	$43,250
Median home value	$178,600	$175,600
Median gross rent	$848	$838
Housing units	6,692	1,346
Homeownership rate	57.0%	54.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.5%	17.0%
Unemployment rate	8.1%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Brainerd	Crosby
Population	13,373 → 14,474 (+8.2%)	2,749 → 2,253 (-18.0%)
Median household income	$34,371 → $53,705 (+56.3%)	$42,717 → $43,250 (+1.2%)
Median home value	$117,900 → $178,600 (+51.5%)	$88,500 → $175,600 (+98.4%)
Median gross rent	$733 → $848 (+15.7%)	$810 → $838 (+3.5%)

Brainerd

Population

13,37314,474

Median household income

$34,371$53,705

Median home value

$117,900$178,600

Median gross rent

$733$848

Crosby

Population

2,7492,253

Median household income

$42,717$43,250

Median home value

$88,500$175,600

Median gross rent

$810$838

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Brainerd	Crosby
Under 5	8.0%	2.5%
5 to 17	13.4%	12.6%
18 to 24	10.4%	4.7%
25 to 34	16.5%	12.1%
35 to 44	13.5%	10.3%
45 to 54	8.1%	8.4%
55 to 64	11.9%	14.5%
65 to 74	9.2%	17.3%
75 and over	9.1%	17.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Brainerd	Crosby
White (non-Hispanic)	89.5%	92.9%
Black or African American	1.6%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.6%	0.1%
Asian	0.5%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.3%	1.4%
Two or more races	2.8%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	2.7%	0.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Brainerd	Crosby
No high school diploma	8.0%	10.7%
High school graduate	34.4%	39.2%
Some college or associate's	38.0%	33.1%
Bachelor's degree	12.9%	11.4%
Graduate or professional degree	6.6%	5.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Brainerd	Crosby
Drove alone	79.0%	74.4%
Carpooled	10.8%	11.3%
Public transit	1.3%	0.0%
Walked	2.3%	10.6%
Bicycle	0.9%	2.1%
Worked from home	4.5%	1.6%
Other means	1.3%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Brainerd	Crosby
1-unit, detached	59.1%	64.2%
1-unit, attached	4.8%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	7.3%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	14.0%	12.0%
20 or more units	10.7%	18.1%
Mobile home & other	4.1%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Brainerd	Crosby
Poverty rate	16.7%	15.8%
Average household size	2.17	1.82
Mean commute (minutes)	19	24
Median year structure built	1970	1965