Alpha vs Heron Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Alpha and Heron Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Heron Lake has the higher population (591 vs 109 in Alpha). Alpha has the higher median household income ($140,273 vs $66,607 in Heron Lake). Heron Lake has the higher median home value ($86,200 vs $56,900 in Alpha).

Population, income & housing

	Alpha	Heron Lake
Population	109	591
Median age	57.1 yrs	40.4 yrs
Median household income	$140,273	$66,607
Median home value	$56,900	$86,200
Median gross rent	—	$681
Housing units	82	295
Homeownership rate	92.1%	85.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.0%	19.9%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alpha	Heron Lake
Population	118 → 109 (-7.6%)	750 → 591 (-21.2%)
Median household income	$42,708 → $140,273 (+228.4%)	$57,500 → $66,607 (+15.8%)
Median home value	$62,500 → $56,900 (-9.0%)	$73,900 → $86,200 (+16.6%)
Median gross rent	$488 → $870 (+78.3%)	$625 → $681 (+9.0%)

Alpha

Population

118109

Median household income

$42,708$140,273

Median home value

$62,500$56,900

Median gross rent

$488$870

Heron Lake

Population

750591

Median household income

$57,500$66,607

Median home value

$73,900$86,200

Median gross rent

$625$681

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alpha	Heron Lake
Under 5	0.0%	3.7%
5 to 17	11.0%	16.1%
18 to 24	11.9%	7.1%
25 to 34	3.7%	11.8%
35 to 44	13.8%	14.6%
45 to 54	8.3%	6.4%
55 to 64	35.8%	13.9%
65 to 74	7.3%	11.8%
75 and over	8.3%	14.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alpha	Heron Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	68.8%	72.8%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	1.2%
Two or more races	1.8%	8.0%
Hispanic or Latino	29.4%	17.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alpha	Heron Lake
No high school diploma	2.4%	6.7%
High school graduate	31.0%	35.6%
Some college or associate's	22.6%	37.7%
Bachelor's degree	42.9%	14.8%
Graduate or professional degree	1.2%	5.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alpha	Heron Lake
Drove alone	89.6%	72.2%
Carpooled	3.9%	12.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.9%	10.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.6%	3.1%
Other means	0.0%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alpha	Heron Lake
1-unit, detached	93.9%	94.6%
1-unit, attached	6.1%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	1.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	1.7%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	2.7%

Poverty & households

	Alpha	Heron Lake
Poverty rate	3.7%	8.0%
Average household size	1.73	2.17
Mean commute (minutes)	20	18
Median year structure built	1949	1948