Heron Lake vs Wilder

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

Heron Lake and Wilder 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 17 in Wilder). Heron Lake has the higher median home value ($86,200 vs $85,000 in Wilder). Since 2019, Heron Lake's population has grown faster (-21.2% vs -54.1%).

Population, income & housing

	Heron Lake	Wilder
Population	591	17
Median age	40.4 yrs	69.5 yrs
Median household income	$66,607	—
Median home value	$86,200	$85,000
Median gross rent	$681	—
Housing units	295	14
Homeownership rate	85.3%	100.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.9%	17.6%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Heron Lake	Wilder
Population	750 → 591 (-21.2%)	37 → 17 (-54.1%)
Median household income	$57,500 → $66,607 (+15.8%)	$60,781 → $70,417 (+15.9%)
Median home value	$73,900 → $86,200 (+16.6%)	$9,999 → $85,000 (+750.1%)
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

Wilder

Population

3717

Median household income

$60,781$70,417

Median home value

$9,999$85,000

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Heron Lake	Wilder
Under 5	3.7%	0.0%
5 to 17	16.1%	0.0%
18 to 24	7.1%	0.0%
25 to 34	11.8%	0.0%
35 to 44	14.6%	0.0%
45 to 54	6.4%	5.9%
55 to 64	13.9%	29.4%
65 to 74	11.8%	29.4%
75 and over	14.6%	35.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Heron Lake	Wilder
White (non-Hispanic)	72.8%	100.0%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.5%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	8.0%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	17.6%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Heron Lake	Wilder
No high school diploma	6.7%	23.5%
High school graduate	35.6%	29.4%
Some college or associate's	37.7%	29.4%
Bachelor's degree	14.8%	17.6%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Heron Lake	Wilder
Drove alone	72.2%	83.3%
Carpooled	12.5%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	10.3%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.1%	16.7%
Other means	1.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Heron Lake	Wilder
1-unit, detached	94.6%	92.9%
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%	7.1%

Poverty & households

	Heron Lake	Wilder
Poverty rate	8.0%	0.0%
Average household size	2.17	1.31
Mean commute (minutes)	18	—
Median year structure built	1948	1950