Heron Lake vs Okabena

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

Heron Lake and Okabena 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 200 in Okabena). Okabena has the higher median household income ($98,750 vs $66,607 in Heron Lake). Okabena has the higher median home value ($99,300 vs $86,200 in Heron Lake).

Population, income & housing

	Heron Lake	Okabena
Population	591	200
Median age	40.4 yrs	49.4 yrs
Median household income	$66,607	$98,750
Median home value	$86,200	$99,300
Median gross rent	$681	$1,083
Housing units	295	89
Homeownership rate	85.3%	94.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.9%	35.0%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Heron Lake	Okabena
Population	750 → 591 (-21.2%)	240 → 200 (-16.7%)
Median household income	$57,500 → $66,607 (+15.8%)	$48,750 → $98,750 (+102.6%)
Median home value	$73,900 → $86,200 (+16.6%)	$73,300 → $99,300 (+35.5%)
Median gross rent	$625 → $681 (+9.0%)	—

Heron Lake

Population

750591

Median household income

$57,500$66,607

Median home value

$73,900$86,200

Median gross rent

$625$681

Okabena

Population

240200

Median household income

$48,750$98,750

Median home value

$73,300$99,300

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Heron Lake	Okabena
Under 5	3.7%	3.5%
5 to 17	16.1%	13.5%
18 to 24	7.1%	1.5%
25 to 34	11.8%	15.5%
35 to 44	14.6%	5.5%
45 to 54	6.4%	21.5%
55 to 64	13.9%	18.5%
65 to 74	11.8%	14.0%
75 and over	14.6%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Heron Lake	Okabena
White (non-Hispanic)	72.8%	83.0%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.5%	7.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	8.0%	9.5%
Hispanic or Latino	17.6%	0.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Heron Lake	Okabena
No high school diploma	6.7%	8.0%
High school graduate	35.6%	28.8%
Some college or associate's	37.7%	28.2%
Bachelor's degree	14.8%	13.5%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	21.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Heron Lake	Okabena
Drove alone	72.2%	54.2%
Carpooled	12.5%	14.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	10.3%	17.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.1%	12.5%
Other means	1.9%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Heron Lake	Okabena
1-unit, detached	94.6%	100.0%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	1.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	1.7%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	2.7%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Heron Lake	Okabena
Poverty rate	8.0%	9.0%
Average household size	2.17	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	18	26
Median year structure built	1948	1954