Heron Lake vs Jackson

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

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

Jackson has the higher population (3,298 vs 591 in Heron Lake). Heron Lake has the higher median household income ($66,607 vs $57,328 in Jackson). Jackson has the higher median home value ($118,900 vs $86,200 in Heron Lake).

Population, income & housing

	Heron Lake	Jackson
Population	591	3,298
Median age	40.4 yrs	42.9 yrs
Median household income	$66,607	$57,328
Median home value	$86,200	$118,900
Median gross rent	$681	$702
Housing units	295	1,609
Homeownership rate	85.3%	69.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.9%	27.8%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	4.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Heron Lake	Jackson
Population	750 → 591 (-21.2%)	3,219 → 3,298 (+2.5%)
Median household income	$57,500 → $66,607 (+15.8%)	$50,972 → $57,328 (+12.5%)
Median home value	$73,900 → $86,200 (+16.6%)	$117,500 → $118,900 (+1.2%)
Median gross rent	$625 → $681 (+9.0%)	$711 → $702 (-1.3%)

Heron Lake

Population

750591

Median household income

$57,500$66,607

Median home value

$73,900$86,200

Median gross rent

$625$681

Jackson

Population

3,2193,298

Median household income

$50,972$57,328

Median home value

$117,500$118,900

Median gross rent

$711$702

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Heron Lake	Jackson
Under 5	3.7%	7.5%
5 to 17	16.1%	14.8%
18 to 24	7.1%	7.2%
25 to 34	11.8%	11.4%
35 to 44	14.6%	11.9%
45 to 54	6.4%	13.2%
55 to 64	13.9%	11.4%
65 to 74	11.8%	13.2%
75 and over	14.6%	9.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Heron Lake	Jackson
White (non-Hispanic)	72.8%	86.0%
Black or African American	0.0%	1.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.5%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	8.0%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	17.6%	5.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Heron Lake	Jackson
No high school diploma	6.7%	4.6%
High school graduate	35.6%	34.2%
Some college or associate's	37.7%	33.5%
Bachelor's degree	14.8%	17.8%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	10.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Heron Lake	Jackson
Drove alone	72.2%	77.5%
Carpooled	12.5%	9.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.6%
Walked	10.3%	5.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.1%	7.5%
Other means	1.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Heron Lake	Jackson
1-unit, detached	94.6%	72.7%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	2.9%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	4.5%
5 to 19 units	1.0%	4.1%
20 or more units	1.7%	15.8%
Mobile home & other	2.7%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Heron Lake	Jackson
Poverty rate	8.0%	14.0%
Average household size	2.17	2.05
Mean commute (minutes)	18	15
Median year structure built	1948	1960