Big Lake vs Zimmerman

A side-by-side comparison of Big Lake and Zimmerman: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Big Lake has the higher population (12,115 vs 6,410 in Zimmerman). Big Lake has the higher median household income ($113,333 vs $86,169 in Zimmerman). Big Lake has the higher median home value ($291,700 vs $284,600 in Zimmerman).

Population, income & housing

	Big Lake	Zimmerman
Population	12,115	6,410
Median age	31.7 yrs	32.3 yrs
Median household income	$113,333	$86,169
Median home value	$291,700	$284,600
Median gross rent	$1,417	$1,277
Housing units	4,075	2,287
Homeownership rate	86.6%	87.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.9%	21.4%
Unemployment rate	3.5%	0.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Big Lake	Zimmerman
Population	10,856 → 12,115 (+11.6%)	5,657 → 6,410 (+13.3%)
Median household income	$80,889 → $113,333 (+40.1%)	$77,222 → $86,169 (+11.6%)
Median home value	$193,000 → $291,700 (+51.1%)	$187,500 → $284,600 (+51.8%)
Median gross rent	$972 → $1,417 (+45.8%)	$1,213 → $1,277 (+5.3%)

Big Lake

Population

10,85612,115

Median household income

$80,889$113,333

Median home value

$193,000$291,700

Median gross rent

$972$1,417

Zimmerman

Population

5,6576,410

Median household income

$77,222$86,169

Median home value

$187,500$284,600

Median gross rent

$1,213$1,277

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Big Lake	Zimmerman
Under 5	6.8%	7.7%
5 to 17	21.8%	22.4%
18 to 24	12.6%	6.2%
25 to 34	12.0%	22.7%
35 to 44	15.4%	12.3%
45 to 54	13.9%	13.3%
55 to 64	11.8%	9.2%
65 to 74	3.0%	5.0%
75 and over	2.6%	1.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Big Lake	Zimmerman
White (non-Hispanic)	85.9%	81.2%
Black or African American	3.1%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.8%	3.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.9%
Two or more races	3.2%	8.0%
Hispanic or Latino	6.8%	5.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Big Lake	Zimmerman
No high school diploma	4.8%	5.5%
High school graduate	29.5%	23.0%
Some college or associate's	38.8%	50.1%
Bachelor's degree	21.1%	15.1%
Graduate or professional degree	5.8%	6.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Big Lake	Zimmerman
Drove alone	76.1%	65.3%
Carpooled	12.9%	19.6%
Public transit	1.2%	1.3%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.8%	13.9%
Other means	0.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Big Lake	Zimmerman
1-unit, detached	84.7%	74.6%
1-unit, attached	3.5%	10.2%
2 to 4 units	3.2%	1.8%
5 to 19 units	2.0%	2.6%
20 or more units	3.5%	5.8%
Mobile home & other	3.1%	4.9%

Poverty & households

	Big Lake	Zimmerman
Poverty rate	5.1%	11.8%
Average household size	3.04	2.92
Mean commute (minutes)	32	35
Median year structure built	1998	2003