Balaton vs Cottonwood

A side-by-side comparison of Balaton and Cottonwood: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Cottonwood has the higher population (1,120 vs 544 in Balaton). Cottonwood has the higher median household income ($90,750 vs $54,091 in Balaton). Cottonwood has the higher median home value ($180,200 vs $85,000 in Balaton).

Population, income & housing

	Balaton	Cottonwood
Population	544	1,120
Median age	46.7 yrs	37.0 yrs
Median household income	$54,091	$90,750
Median home value	$85,000	$180,200
Median gross rent	$1,081	$914
Housing units	279	517
Homeownership rate	76.2%	78.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.1%	27.1%
Unemployment rate	6.9%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Balaton	Cottonwood
Population	600 → 544 (-9.3%)	1,332 → 1,120 (-15.9%)
Median household income	$50,313 → $54,091 (+7.5%)	$56,000 → $90,750 (+62.1%)
Median home value	$72,500 → $85,000 (+17.2%)	$159,400 → $180,200 (+13.0%)
Median gross rent	$573 → $1,081 (+88.7%)	$543 → $914 (+68.3%)

Balaton

Population

600544

Median household income

$50,313$54,091

Median home value

$72,500$85,000

Median gross rent

$573$1,081

Cottonwood

Population

1,3321,120

Median household income

$56,000$90,750

Median home value

$159,400$180,200

Median gross rent

$543$914

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Balaton	Cottonwood
Under 5	6.8%	8.6%
5 to 17	14.7%	17.1%
18 to 24	3.5%	6.9%
25 to 34	18.4%	14.1%
35 to 44	4.8%	12.3%
45 to 54	13.2%	13.1%
55 to 64	14.0%	11.2%
65 to 74	13.2%	8.8%
75 and over	11.4%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Balaton	Cottonwood
White (non-Hispanic)	93.4%	93.5%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.1%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	0.6%	3.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Balaton	Cottonwood
No high school diploma	1.7%	2.0%
High school graduate	36.8%	22.1%
Some college or associate's	43.4%	48.8%
Bachelor's degree	15.0%	20.1%
Graduate or professional degree	3.2%	7.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Balaton	Cottonwood
Drove alone	78.9%	82.3%
Carpooled	12.2%	6.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.8%	2.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.5%
Worked from home	8.1%	8.1%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Balaton	Cottonwood
1-unit, detached	93.9%	77.9%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	2.3%
2 to 4 units	0.7%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	1.1%	8.1%
20 or more units	4.3%	4.3%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	3.5%

Poverty & households

	Balaton	Cottonwood
Poverty rate	13.3%	8.1%
Average household size	2.06	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	25	15
Median year structure built	1950	1971