Shell Lake vs Spooner

A side-by-side comparison of Shell Lake and Spooner: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Spooner has the higher population (2,203 vs 1,513 in Shell Lake). Shell Lake has the higher median household income ($56,875 vs $44,474 in Spooner). Shell Lake has the higher median home value ($207,100 vs $141,800 in Spooner).

Population, income & housing

	Shell Lake	Spooner
Population	1,513	2,203
Median age	45.0 yrs	54.2 yrs
Median household income	$56,875	$44,474
Median home value	$207,100	$141,800
Median gross rent	$713	$803
Housing units	938	1,193
Homeownership rate	71.5%	53.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.7%	17.0%
Unemployment rate	1.2%	7.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Shell Lake	Spooner
Population	1,320 → 1,513 (+14.6%)	2,594 → 2,203 (-15.1%)
Median household income	$38,152 → $56,875 (+49.1%)	$40,882 → $44,474 (+8.8%)
Median home value	$124,200 → $207,100 (+66.7%)	$101,200 → $141,800 (+40.1%)
Median gross rent	$652 → $713 (+9.4%)	$624 → $803 (+28.7%)

Shell Lake

Population

1,3201,513

Median household income

$38,152$56,875

Median home value

$124,200$207,100

Median gross rent

$652$713

Spooner

Population

2,5942,203

Median household income

$40,882$44,474

Median home value

$101,200$141,800

Median gross rent

$624$803

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Shell Lake	Spooner
Under 5	3.6%	2.2%
5 to 17	20.9%	14.6%
18 to 24	6.3%	6.2%
25 to 34	7.7%	8.7%
35 to 44	11.4%	9.9%
45 to 54	9.2%	9.8%
55 to 64	12.8%	18.2%
65 to 74	15.0%	16.0%
75 and over	13.0%	14.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Shell Lake	Spooner
White (non-Hispanic)	92.0%	84.7%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.0%	0.6%
Asian	0.1%	1.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	5.9%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	0.1%	9.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Shell Lake	Spooner
No high school diploma	7.6%	10.5%
High school graduate	27.6%	37.6%
Some college or associate's	36.1%	34.9%
Bachelor's degree	20.3%	15.1%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	1.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Shell Lake	Spooner
Drove alone	71.3%	71.3%
Carpooled	12.4%	4.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.6%	3.6%
Bicycle	1.4%	1.2%
Worked from home	12.2%	19.7%
Other means	1.1%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Shell Lake	Spooner
1-unit, detached	74.6%	67.6%
1-unit, attached	3.4%	5.4%
2 to 4 units	3.6%	15.8%
5 to 19 units	6.3%	4.9%
20 or more units	7.5%	1.7%
Mobile home & other	4.6%	4.6%

Poverty & households

	Shell Lake	Spooner
Poverty rate	9.0%	20.9%
Average household size	2.26	1.89
Mean commute (minutes)	20	17
Median year structure built	1977	1965