Fergus Falls vs Pelican Rapids

A side-by-side comparison of Fergus Falls and Pelican Rapids: population, income, housing, and more.

Fergus Falls and Pelican Rapids are places in Minnesota. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Fergus Falls has the higher population (14,138 vs 2,589 in Pelican Rapids). Pelican Rapids has the higher median household income ($65,482 vs $50,865 in Fergus Falls). Pelican Rapids has the higher median home value ($177,700 vs $173,300 in Fergus Falls).

Population, income & housing

	Fergus Falls	Pelican Rapids
Population	14,138	2,589
Median age	42.0 yrs	37.7 yrs
Median household income	$50,865	$65,482
Median home value	$173,300	$177,700
Median gross rent	$839	$349
Housing units	6,989	1,083
Homeownership rate	63.5%	61.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.8%	18.7%
Unemployment rate	7.4%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fergus Falls	Pelican Rapids
Population	13,707 → 14,138 (+3.1%)	2,487 → 2,589 (+4.1%)
Median household income	$43,528 → $50,865 (+16.9%)	$43,971 → $65,482 (+48.9%)
Median home value	$132,300 → $173,300 (+31.0%)	$109,000 → $177,700 (+63.0%)
Median gross rent	$653 → $839 (+28.5%)	$388 → $349 (-10.1%)

Fergus Falls

Population

13,70714,138

Median household income

$43,528$50,865

Median home value

$132,300$173,300

Median gross rent

$653$839

Pelican Rapids

Population

2,4872,589

Median household income

$43,971$65,482

Median home value

$109,000$177,700

Median gross rent

$388$349

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fergus Falls	Pelican Rapids
Under 5	5.8%	9.8%
5 to 17	15.5%	16.6%
18 to 24	8.4%	7.9%
25 to 34	10.9%	8.7%
35 to 44	12.9%	15.0%
45 to 54	8.6%	12.7%
55 to 64	14.1%	12.4%
65 to 74	10.7%	7.2%
75 and over	13.1%	9.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fergus Falls	Pelican Rapids
White (non-Hispanic)	90.7%	60.4%
Black or African American	1.2%	8.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	1.9%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	1.9%
Two or more races	3.9%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	1.2%	25.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fergus Falls	Pelican Rapids
No high school diploma	4.5%	23.4%
High school graduate	26.1%	36.9%
Some college or associate's	41.5%	21.1%
Bachelor's degree	18.5%	13.2%
Graduate or professional degree	9.4%	5.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fergus Falls	Pelican Rapids
Drove alone	69.7%	74.9%
Carpooled	10.5%	5.4%
Public transit	2.2%	0.0%
Walked	4.6%	7.0%
Bicycle	1.9%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.2%	10.9%
Other means	1.1%	1.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fergus Falls	Pelican Rapids
1-unit, detached	61.4%	48.7%
1-unit, attached	6.4%	16.3%
2 to 4 units	6.1%	3.5%
5 to 19 units	9.1%	9.0%
20 or more units	14.4%	20.0%
Mobile home & other	2.6%	2.4%

Poverty & households

	Fergus Falls	Pelican Rapids
Poverty rate	10.7%	17.1%
Average household size	2.09	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	13	23
Median year structure built	1973	1972