Battle Lake vs Ottertail

A side-by-side comparison of Battle Lake and Ottertail: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Battle Lake has the higher population (794 vs 490 in Ottertail). Ottertail has the higher median household income ($83,750 vs $58,125 in Battle Lake). Ottertail has the higher median home value ($262,500 vs $221,000 in Battle Lake).

Population, income & housing

	Battle Lake	Ottertail
Population	794	490
Median age	55.8 yrs	58.7 yrs
Median household income	$58,125	$83,750
Median home value	$221,000	$262,500
Median gross rent	$920	$1,047
Housing units	479	396
Homeownership rate	62.5%	89.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.4%	25.5%
Unemployment rate	7.3%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Battle Lake	Ottertail
Population	670 → 794 (+18.5%)	575 → 490 (-14.8%)
Median household income	$40,667 → $58,125 (+42.9%)	$66,875 → $83,750 (+25.2%)
Median home value	$132,600 → $221,000 (+66.7%)	$182,100 → $262,500 (+44.2%)
Median gross rent	$708 → $920 (+29.9%)	$856 → $1,047 (+22.3%)

Battle Lake

Population

670794

Median household income

$40,667$58,125

Median home value

$132,600$221,000

Median gross rent

$708$920

Ottertail

Population

575490

Median household income

$66,875$83,750

Median home value

$182,100$262,500

Median gross rent

$856$1,047

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Battle Lake	Ottertail
Under 5	2.0%	3.5%
5 to 17	15.1%	10.8%
18 to 24	4.9%	1.0%
25 to 34	11.0%	8.2%
35 to 44	10.1%	8.0%
45 to 54	6.5%	12.2%
55 to 64	13.1%	24.3%
65 to 74	16.1%	22.7%
75 and over	21.2%	9.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Battle Lake	Ottertail
White (non-Hispanic)	90.7%	94.5%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.1%	1.2%
Hispanic or Latino	8.2%	3.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Battle Lake	Ottertail
No high school diploma	4.0%	6.0%
High school graduate	31.8%	27.2%
Some college or associate's	38.8%	41.2%
Bachelor's degree	16.5%	16.6%
Graduate or professional degree	8.9%	8.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Battle Lake	Ottertail
Drove alone	88.7%	75.6%
Carpooled	0.7%	7.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	6.6%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.0%	17.1%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Battle Lake	Ottertail
1-unit, detached	72.2%	82.3%
1-unit, attached	2.1%	4.8%
2 to 4 units	4.0%	2.5%
5 to 19 units	13.6%	0.0%
20 or more units	8.1%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	10.4%

Poverty & households

	Battle Lake	Ottertail
Poverty rate	5.3%	7.1%
Average household size	2.01	2.09
Mean commute (minutes)	20	25
Median year structure built	1973	1996