Sturgeon Lake vs Willow River

A side-by-side comparison of Sturgeon Lake and Willow River: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Sturgeon Lake has the higher population (526 vs 351 in Willow River). Sturgeon Lake has the higher median household income ($77,500 vs $52,188 in Willow River). Willow River has the higher median home value ($197,700 vs $190,600 in Sturgeon Lake).

Population, income & housing

	Sturgeon Lake	Willow River
Population	526	351
Median age	48.1 yrs	37.3 yrs
Median household income	$77,500	$52,188
Median home value	$190,600	$197,700
Median gross rent	$1,038	$758
Housing units	233	177
Homeownership rate	80.6%	65.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.5%	9.2%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	9.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Sturgeon Lake	Willow River
Population	438 → 526 (+20.1%)	457 → 351 (-23.2%)
Median household income	$62,500 → $77,500 (+24.0%)	$40,250 → $52,188 (+29.7%)
Median home value	$135,200 → $190,600 (+41.0%)	$123,500 → $197,700 (+60.1%)
Median gross rent	$850 → $1,038 (+22.1%)	$740 → $758 (+2.4%)

Sturgeon Lake

Population

438526

Median household income

$62,500$77,500

Median home value

$135,200$190,600

Median gross rent

$850$1,038

Willow River

Population

457351

Median household income

$40,250$52,188

Median home value

$123,500$197,700

Median gross rent

$740$758

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Sturgeon Lake	Willow River
Under 5	4.6%	2.8%
5 to 17	14.6%	14.8%
18 to 24	9.5%	11.4%
25 to 34	6.5%	19.7%
35 to 44	8.4%	12.3%
45 to 54	27.6%	11.1%
55 to 64	11.8%	5.7%
65 to 74	13.3%	14.5%
75 and over	3.8%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Sturgeon Lake	Willow River
White (non-Hispanic)	74.5%	98.3%
Black or African American	15.2%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.7%	0.0%
Asian	1.9%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.2%	1.7%
Hispanic or Latino	2.3%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Sturgeon Lake	Willow River
No high school diploma	6.1%	2.8%
High school graduate	38.7%	49.0%
Some college or associate's	43.7%	39.0%
Bachelor's degree	10.9%	8.8%
Graduate or professional degree	0.5%	0.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Sturgeon Lake	Willow River
Drove alone	60.8%	69.6%
Carpooled	33.7%	19.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.4%	8.9%
Other means	1.1%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Sturgeon Lake	Willow River
1-unit, detached	51.9%	79.7%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	8.6%	13.6%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	36.9%	6.8%

Poverty & households

	Sturgeon Lake	Willow River
Poverty rate	6.5%	8.3%
Average household size	2.92	2.22
Mean commute (minutes)	20	41
Median year structure built	1993	1992