Medford vs Owatonna

A side-by-side comparison of Medford and Owatonna: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Owatonna has the higher population (26,462 vs 1,194 in Medford). Medford has the higher median household income ($98,375 vs $81,276 in Owatonna). Owatonna has the higher median home value ($234,600 vs $234,300 in Medford).

Population, income & housing

	Medford	Owatonna
Population	1,194	26,462
Median age	38.2 yrs	40.0 yrs
Median household income	$98,375	$81,276
Median home value	$234,300	$234,600
Median gross rent	$1,036	$1,010
Housing units	473	11,371
Homeownership rate	74.9%	76.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.1%	32.3%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	3.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Medford	Owatonna
Population	1,404 → 1,194 (-15.0%)	25,685 → 26,462 (+3.0%)
Median household income	$72,679 → $98,375 (+35.4%)	$62,642 → $81,276 (+29.7%)
Median home value	$162,200 → $234,300 (+44.5%)	$166,600 → $234,600 (+40.8%)
Median gross rent	$700 → $1,036 (+48.0%)	$773 → $1,010 (+30.7%)

Medford

Population

1,4041,194

Median household income

$72,679$98,375

Median home value

$162,200$234,300

Median gross rent

$700$1,036

Owatonna

Population

25,68526,462

Median household income

$62,642$81,276

Median home value

$166,600$234,600

Median gross rent

$773$1,010

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Medford	Owatonna
Under 5	7.7%	5.0%
5 to 17	20.7%	19.3%
18 to 24	5.9%	7.7%
25 to 34	12.6%	11.4%
35 to 44	16.8%	13.2%
45 to 54	13.3%	11.9%
55 to 64	11.9%	12.8%
65 to 74	3.9%	10.9%
75 and over	7.3%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Medford	Owatonna
White (non-Hispanic)	84.4%	83.2%
Black or African American	0.1%	4.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	1.2%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.6%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	11.7%	8.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Medford	Owatonna
No high school diploma	13.1%	5.8%
High school graduate	37.1%	28.7%
Some college or associate's	28.7%	33.2%
Bachelor's degree	13.9%	21.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.3%	10.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Medford	Owatonna
Drove alone	79.5%	80.7%
Carpooled	11.5%	5.7%
Public transit	0.0%	1.4%
Walked	0.0%	2.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	9.0%	8.4%
Other means	0.0%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Medford	Owatonna
1-unit, detached	85.0%	71.6%
1-unit, attached	2.1%	6.2%
2 to 4 units	3.6%	4.9%
5 to 19 units	4.7%	5.7%
20 or more units	4.7%	8.6%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	2.9%

Poverty & households

	Medford	Owatonna
Poverty rate	2.9%	8.2%
Average household size	2.65	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	22	18
Median year structure built	1982	1977