Ely vs Rice Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Ely and Rice Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Rice Lake has the higher population (4,120 vs 3,239 in Ely). Rice Lake has the higher median household income ($95,347 vs $46,042 in Ely). Rice Lake has the higher median home value ($283,700 vs $150,800 in Ely).

Population, income & housing

	Ely	Rice Lake
Population	3,239	4,120
Median age	50.7 yrs	44.8 yrs
Median household income	$46,042	$95,347
Median home value	$150,800	$283,700
Median gross rent	$627	$1,328
Housing units	2,020	1,825
Homeownership rate	63.9%	90.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.1%	31.7%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	0.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ely	Rice Lake
Population	3,390 → 3,239 (-4.5%)	4,149 → 4,120 (-0.7%)
Median household income	$40,946 → $46,042 (+12.4%)	$77,500 → $95,347 (+23.0%)
Median home value	$101,900 → $150,800 (+48.0%)	$209,500 → $283,700 (+35.4%)
Median gross rent	$494 → $627 (+26.9%)	$1,125 → $1,328 (+18.0%)

Ely

Population

3,3903,239

Median household income

$40,946$46,042

Median home value

$101,900$150,800

Median gross rent

$494$627

Rice Lake

Population

4,1494,120

Median household income

$77,500$95,347

Median home value

$209,500$283,700

Median gross rent

$1,125$1,328

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ely	Rice Lake
Under 5	2.5%	5.0%
5 to 17	5.5%	13.7%
18 to 24	15.9%	6.9%
25 to 34	11.8%	9.2%
35 to 44	8.1%	15.4%
45 to 54	8.9%	11.2%
55 to 64	20.5%	14.7%
65 to 74	16.1%	15.6%
75 and over	10.6%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ely	Rice Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	91.8%	97.7%
Black or African American	2.2%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.2%	1.5%
Hispanic or Latino	2.1%	0.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ely	Rice Lake
No high school diploma	10.0%	4.5%
High school graduate	19.7%	27.7%
Some college or associate's	36.2%	36.1%
Bachelor's degree	26.7%	22.5%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	9.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ely	Rice Lake
Drove alone	56.7%	81.7%
Carpooled	13.2%	8.2%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	21.1%	3.5%
Bicycle	1.9%	0.9%
Worked from home	6.3%	5.7%
Other means	0.7%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ely	Rice Lake
1-unit, detached	65.7%	92.2%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	0.4%
2 to 4 units	8.3%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	5.1%	0.0%
20 or more units	16.2%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	3.1%	5.9%

Poverty & households

	Ely	Rice Lake
Poverty rate	15.9%	6.8%
Average household size	1.70	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	15	22
Median year structure built	1941	1974