Albert Lea vs Alden

A side-by-side comparison of Albert Lea and Alden: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Albert Lea has the higher population (18,379 vs 658 in Alden). Alden has the higher median household income ($75,833 vs $62,522 in Albert Lea). Albert Lea has the higher median home value ($150,400 vs $122,700 in Alden).

Population, income & housing

	Albert Lea	Alden
Population	18,379	658
Median age	44.3 yrs	48.7 yrs
Median household income	$62,522	$75,833
Median home value	$150,400	$122,700
Median gross rent	$845	$1,038
Housing units	8,669	287
Homeownership rate	73.6%	87.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.3%	19.1%
Unemployment rate	4.1%	7.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Albert Lea	Alden
Population	17,773 → 18,379 (+3.4%)	658 → 658 (+0.0%)
Median household income	$47,508 → $62,522 (+31.6%)	$58,750 → $75,833 (+29.1%)
Median home value	$97,100 → $150,400 (+54.9%)	$92,000 → $122,700 (+33.4%)
Median gross rent	$687 → $845 (+23.0%)	$642 → $1,038 (+61.7%)

Albert Lea

Population

17,77318,379

Median household income

$47,508$62,522

Median home value

$97,100$150,400

Median gross rent

$687$845

Alden

Population

658658

Median household income

$58,750$75,833

Median home value

$92,000$122,700

Median gross rent

$642$1,038

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Albert Lea	Alden
Under 5	4.4%	3.3%
5 to 17	17.1%	14.1%
18 to 24	6.7%	8.5%
25 to 34	11.3%	6.5%
35 to 44	11.3%	12.6%
45 to 54	11.4%	13.4%
55 to 64	13.0%	19.6%
65 to 74	12.3%	15.3%
75 and over	12.6%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Albert Lea	Alden
White (non-Hispanic)	76.9%	93.5%
Black or African American	1.8%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	4.1%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.8%
Two or more races	1.9%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	14.9%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Albert Lea	Alden
No high school diploma	12.8%	2.5%
High school graduate	33.0%	39.4%
Some college or associate's	37.0%	39.0%
Bachelor's degree	11.4%	14.2%
Graduate or professional degree	5.8%	4.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Albert Lea	Alden
Drove alone	79.6%	89.3%
Carpooled	7.9%	2.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.8%	1.8%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.6%	5.4%
Other means	1.1%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Albert Lea	Alden
1-unit, detached	70.6%	98.3%
1-unit, attached	6.1%	1.0%
2 to 4 units	5.6%	0.3%
5 to 19 units	6.1%	0.3%
20 or more units	9.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.8%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Albert Lea	Alden
Poverty rate	11.5%	2.9%
Average household size	2.24	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	19	21
Median year structure built	1959	1957