Lester Prairie vs Plato

A side-by-side comparison of Lester Prairie and Plato: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Lester Prairie has the higher population (1,848 vs 193 in Plato). Plato has the higher median household income ($99,375 vs $87,188 in Lester Prairie). Plato has the higher median home value ($228,900 vs $217,000 in Lester Prairie).

Population, income & housing

	Lester Prairie	Plato
Population	1,848	193
Median age	36.1 yrs	40.5 yrs
Median household income	$87,188	$99,375
Median home value	$217,000	$228,900
Median gross rent	$735	—
Housing units	727	88
Homeownership rate	85.8%	98.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.8%	21.7%
Unemployment rate	0.3%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lester Prairie	Plato
Population	1,981 → 1,848 (-6.7%)	252 → 193 (-23.4%)
Median household income	$59,688 → $87,188 (+46.1%)	$52,361 → $99,375 (+89.8%)
Median home value	$149,800 → $217,000 (+44.9%)	$162,500 → $228,900 (+40.9%)
Median gross rent	$543 → $735 (+35.4%)	—

Lester Prairie

Population

1,9811,848

Median household income

$59,688$87,188

Median home value

$149,800$217,000

Median gross rent

$543$735

Plato

Population

252193

Median household income

$52,361$99,375

Median home value

$162,500$228,900

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lester Prairie	Plato
Under 5	7.0%	2.6%
5 to 17	22.7%	16.6%
18 to 24	8.1%	6.7%
25 to 34	11.4%	11.4%
35 to 44	17.7%	20.7%
45 to 54	8.4%	15.5%
55 to 64	11.5%	5.7%
65 to 74	7.5%	17.1%
75 and over	5.6%	3.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lester Prairie	Plato
White (non-Hispanic)	79.4%	99.0%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.3%	0.5%
Hispanic or Latino	17.6%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lester Prairie	Plato
No high school diploma	9.1%	6.3%
High school graduate	32.9%	31.5%
Some college or associate's	42.2%	40.6%
Bachelor's degree	13.2%	13.3%
Graduate or professional degree	2.5%	8.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lester Prairie	Plato
Drove alone	74.5%	89.8%
Carpooled	9.4%	1.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	4.6%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.8%	7.4%
Other means	0.3%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lester Prairie	Plato
1-unit, detached	80.6%	100.0%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	6.2%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	6.7%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.8%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Lester Prairie	Plato
Poverty rate	5.3%	0.0%
Average household size	2.60	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	31	27
Median year structure built	1975	1973