Appleton vs Benson

A side-by-side comparison of Appleton and Benson: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Benson has the higher population (3,449 vs 1,360 in Appleton). Benson has the higher median household income ($51,124 vs $40,117 in Appleton). Benson has the higher median home value ($146,100 vs $71,300 in Appleton).

Population, income & housing

	Appleton	Benson
Population	1,360	3,449
Median age	51.6 yrs	40.9 yrs
Median household income	$40,117	$51,124
Median home value	$71,300	$146,100
Median gross rent	$682	$939
Housing units	758	1,617
Homeownership rate	72.3%	62.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.6%	29.9%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Appleton	Benson
Population	1,412 → 1,360 (-3.7%)	3,078 → 3,449 (+12.1%)
Median household income	$34,856 → $40,117 (+15.1%)	$41,063 → $51,124 (+24.5%)
Median home value	$49,900 → $71,300 (+42.9%)	$106,000 → $146,100 (+37.8%)
Median gross rent	$528 → $682 (+29.2%)	$693 → $939 (+35.5%)

Appleton

Population

1,4121,360

Median household income

$34,856$40,117

Median home value

$49,900$71,300

Median gross rent

$528$682

Benson

Population

3,0783,449

Median household income

$41,063$51,124

Median home value

$106,000$146,100

Median gross rent

$693$939

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Appleton	Benson
Under 5	2.6%	7.9%
5 to 17	21.7%	17.6%
18 to 24	6.5%	8.1%
25 to 34	8.2%	10.7%
35 to 44	6.8%	11.9%
45 to 54	9.0%	12.2%
55 to 64	16.3%	9.4%
65 to 74	14.2%	12.5%
75 and over	14.6%	9.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Appleton	Benson
White (non-Hispanic)	81.4%	87.9%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.8%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	5.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	9.0%	5.2%
Hispanic or Latino	3.5%	6.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Appleton	Benson
No high school diploma	7.8%	4.5%
High school graduate	40.3%	23.4%
Some college or associate's	33.4%	42.2%
Bachelor's degree	16.2%	26.2%
Graduate or professional degree	2.4%	3.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Appleton	Benson
Drove alone	73.0%	84.7%
Carpooled	12.4%	4.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	8.1%	7.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	2.1%
Worked from home	6.5%	1.1%
Other means	0.0%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Appleton	Benson
1-unit, detached	66.1%	71.6%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	5.4%
2 to 4 units	6.7%	3.1%
5 to 19 units	10.2%	8.7%
20 or more units	12.0%	10.8%
Mobile home & other	3.7%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Appleton	Benson
Poverty rate	20.5%	9.7%
Average household size	2.09	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	29	20
Median year structure built	1959	1959