Brainerd vs Pequot Lakes

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

Brainerd and Pequot Lakes 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 2,236 in Pequot Lakes). Pequot Lakes has the higher median household income ($66,974 vs $53,705 in Brainerd). Pequot Lakes has the higher median home value ($246,400 vs $178,600 in Brainerd).

Population, income & housing

	Brainerd	Pequot Lakes
Population	14,474	2,236
Median age	36.1 yrs	43.0 yrs
Median household income	$53,705	$66,974
Median home value	$178,600	$246,400
Median gross rent	$848	$792
Housing units	6,692	1,324
Homeownership rate	57.0%	66.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.5%	32.6%
Unemployment rate	8.1%	8.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Brainerd	Pequot Lakes
Population	13,373 → 14,474 (+8.2%)	2,179 → 2,236 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$34,371 → $53,705 (+56.3%)	$54,583 → $66,974 (+22.7%)
Median home value	$117,900 → $178,600 (+51.5%)	$164,000 → $246,400 (+50.2%)
Median gross rent	$733 → $848 (+15.7%)	$672 → $792 (+17.9%)

Brainerd

Population

13,37314,474

Median household income

$34,371$53,705

Median home value

$117,900$178,600

Median gross rent

$733$848

Pequot Lakes

Population

2,1792,236

Median household income

$54,583$66,974

Median home value

$164,000$246,400

Median gross rent

$672$792

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Brainerd	Pequot Lakes
Under 5	8.0%	8.7%
5 to 17	13.4%	15.5%
18 to 24	10.4%	6.0%
25 to 34	16.5%	12.7%
35 to 44	13.5%	10.1%
45 to 54	8.1%	8.8%
55 to 64	11.9%	12.4%
65 to 74	9.2%	15.3%
75 and over	9.1%	10.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Brainerd	Pequot Lakes
White (non-Hispanic)	89.5%	95.1%
Black or African American	1.6%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.6%	1.3%
Asian	0.5%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.8%	1.7%
Hispanic or Latino	2.7%	1.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Brainerd	Pequot Lakes
No high school diploma	8.0%	2.6%
High school graduate	34.4%	23.1%
Some college or associate's	38.0%	41.7%
Bachelor's degree	12.9%	23.3%
Graduate or professional degree	6.6%	9.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Brainerd	Pequot Lakes
Drove alone	79.0%	69.9%
Carpooled	10.8%	9.3%
Public transit	1.3%	0.0%
Walked	2.3%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.5%	17.5%
Other means	1.3%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Brainerd	Pequot Lakes
1-unit, detached	59.1%	69.1%
1-unit, attached	4.8%	4.4%
2 to 4 units	7.3%	1.2%
5 to 19 units	14.0%	3.7%
20 or more units	10.7%	20.7%
Mobile home & other	4.1%	0.9%

Poverty & households

	Brainerd	Pequot Lakes
Poverty rate	16.7%	5.5%
Average household size	2.17	2.23
Mean commute (minutes)	19	22
Median year structure built	1970	1993