Balsam Lake vs Dresser

A side-by-side comparison of Balsam Lake and Dresser: population, income, housing, and more.

Balsam Lake and Dresser are places in Wisconsin. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Dresser has the higher population (1,037 vs 819 in Balsam Lake). Dresser has the higher median household income ($78,906 vs $48,468 in Balsam Lake). Dresser has the higher median home value ($194,400 vs $188,600 in Balsam Lake).

Population, income & housing

	Balsam Lake	Dresser
Population	819	1,037
Median age	50.6 yrs	35.4 yrs
Median household income	$48,468	$78,906
Median home value	$188,600	$194,400
Median gross rent	$1,063	$1,024
Housing units	641	377
Homeownership rate	82.7%	79.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.1%	22.5%
Unemployment rate	7.3%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Balsam Lake	Dresser
Population	800 → 819 (+2.4%)	1,004 → 1,037 (+3.3%)
Median household income	$40,968 → $48,468 (+18.3%)	$60,093 → $78,906 (+31.3%)
Median home value	$133,500 → $188,600 (+41.3%)	$133,100 → $194,400 (+46.1%)
Median gross rent	$822 → $1,063 (+29.3%)	$879 → $1,024 (+16.5%)

Balsam Lake

Population

800819

Median household income

$40,968$48,468

Median home value

$133,500$188,600

Median gross rent

$822$1,063

Dresser

Population

1,0041,037

Median household income

$60,093$78,906

Median home value

$133,100$194,400

Median gross rent

$879$1,024

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Balsam Lake	Dresser
Under 5	2.4%	6.5%
5 to 17	11.6%	23.6%
18 to 24	7.0%	8.7%
25 to 34	14.9%	9.7%
35 to 44	11.8%	19.1%
45 to 54	7.4%	9.7%
55 to 64	13.8%	9.7%
65 to 74	15.4%	8.1%
75 and over	15.6%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Balsam Lake	Dresser
White (non-Hispanic)	92.4%	85.1%
Black or African American	1.8%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	1.2%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.3%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	3.1%	12.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Balsam Lake	Dresser
No high school diploma	11.9%	4.4%
High school graduate	34.9%	31.8%
Some college or associate's	33.1%	41.3%
Bachelor's degree	14.4%	15.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.7%	7.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Balsam Lake	Dresser
Drove alone	74.6%	74.1%
Carpooled	6.9%	13.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	10.3%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.2%	9.5%
Other means	1.0%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Balsam Lake	Dresser
1-unit, detached	73.0%	77.7%
1-unit, attached	2.3%	5.6%
2 to 4 units	2.7%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	4.8%	4.5%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	17.2%	6.9%

Poverty & households

	Balsam Lake	Dresser
Poverty rate	15.7%	6.0%
Average household size	1.99	2.75
Mean commute (minutes)	25	30
Median year structure built	1978	1973