Ely vs Mountain Iron

A side-by-side comparison of Ely and Mountain Iron: population, income, housing, and more.

Ely and Mountain Iron are places in Minnesota. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Ely has the higher population (3,239 vs 2,865 in Mountain Iron). Mountain Iron has the higher median household income ($81,607 vs $46,042 in Ely). Mountain Iron has the higher median home value ($180,700 vs $150,800 in Ely).

Population, income & housing

	Ely	Mountain Iron
Population	3,239	2,865
Median age	50.7 yrs	49.5 yrs
Median household income	$46,042	$81,607
Median home value	$150,800	$180,700
Median gross rent	$627	$911
Housing units	2,020	1,423
Homeownership rate	63.9%	74.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.1%	22.9%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	3.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ely	Mountain Iron
Population	3,390 → 3,239 (-4.5%)	2,853 → 2,865 (+0.4%)
Median household income	$40,946 → $46,042 (+12.4%)	$51,389 → $81,607 (+58.8%)
Median home value	$101,900 → $150,800 (+48.0%)	$144,500 → $180,700 (+25.1%)
Median gross rent	$494 → $627 (+26.9%)	$550 → $911 (+65.6%)

Ely

Population

3,3903,239

Median household income

$40,946$46,042

Median home value

$101,900$150,800

Median gross rent

$494$627

Mountain Iron

Population

2,8532,865

Median household income

$51,389$81,607

Median home value

$144,500$180,700

Median gross rent

$550$911

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ely	Mountain Iron
Under 5	2.5%	3.3%
5 to 17	5.5%	12.8%
18 to 24	15.9%	4.7%
25 to 34	11.8%	9.6%
35 to 44	8.1%	12.7%
45 to 54	8.9%	17.7%
55 to 64	20.5%	12.9%
65 to 74	16.1%	17.8%
75 and over	10.6%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ely	Mountain Iron
White (non-Hispanic)	91.8%	95.3%
Black or African American	2.2%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	1.2%
Asian	0.0%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.2%	0.7%
Two or more races	2.2%	0.7%
Hispanic or Latino	2.1%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ely	Mountain Iron
No high school diploma	10.0%	5.9%
High school graduate	19.7%	34.0%
Some college or associate's	36.2%	37.3%
Bachelor's degree	26.7%	17.5%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ely	Mountain Iron
Drove alone	56.7%	74.0%
Carpooled	13.2%	12.4%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	21.1%	0.0%
Bicycle	1.9%	4.0%
Worked from home	6.3%	4.3%
Other means	0.7%	5.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ely	Mountain Iron
1-unit, detached	65.7%	69.9%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	1.3%
2 to 4 units	8.3%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	5.1%	8.3%
20 or more units	16.2%	13.8%
Mobile home & other	3.1%	3.4%

Poverty & households

	Ely	Mountain Iron
Poverty rate	15.9%	9.3%
Average household size	1.70	2.19
Mean commute (minutes)	15	16
Median year structure built	1941	1973