Blue Earth County vs Rice County

A side-by-side comparison of Blue Earth County and Rice County: population, income, housing, and more.

Blue Earth County and Rice County are counties in Minnesota. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Blue Earth County has the higher population (69,386 vs 67,389 in Rice County). Rice County has the higher median household income ($82,792 vs $72,623 in Blue Earth County). Rice County has the higher median home value ($298,500 vs $252,800 in Blue Earth County).

Population, income & housing

	Blue Earth County	Rice County
Population	69,386	67,389
Median age	31.5 yrs	37.1 yrs
Median household income	$72,623	$82,792
Median home value	$252,800	$298,500
Median gross rent	$1,076	$1,046
Housing units	29,544	25,173
Homeownership rate	61.8%	75.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.5%	29.7%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Blue Earth County	Rice County
Population	66,795 → 69,386 (+3.9%)	66,185 → 67,389 (+1.8%)
Median household income	$57,429 → $72,623 (+26.5%)	$68,584 → $82,792 (+20.7%)
Median home value	$184,800 → $252,800 (+36.8%)	$208,600 → $298,500 (+43.1%)
Median gross rent	$883 → $1,076 (+21.9%)	$843 → $1,046 (+24.1%)

Blue Earth County

Population

66,79569,386

Median household income

$57,429$72,623

Median home value

$184,800$252,800

Median gross rent

$883$1,076

Rice County

Population

66,18567,389

Median household income

$68,584$82,792

Median home value

$208,600$298,500

Median gross rent

$843$1,046

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Blue Earth County	Rice County
Under 5	5.2%	5.5%
5 to 17	14.7%	16.1%
18 to 24	21.2%	14.4%
25 to 34	13.0%	11.2%
35 to 44	11.6%	12.6%
45 to 54	9.4%	11.4%
55 to 64	10.2%	12.3%
65 to 74	8.5%	9.9%
75 and over	6.2%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Blue Earth County	Rice County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.2%	78.2%
Black or African American	4.5%	6.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	2.3%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.0%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	4.7%	10.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Blue Earth County	Rice County
No high school diploma	5.0%	7.0%
High school graduate	24.8%	33.0%
Some college or associate's	35.7%	30.3%
Bachelor's degree	23.1%	18.1%
Graduate or professional degree	11.4%	11.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Blue Earth County	Rice County
Drove alone	76.2%	68.4%
Carpooled	9.7%	9.9%
Public transit	1.8%	0.4%
Walked	3.0%	6.7%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.6%
Worked from home	8.3%	12.8%
Other means	0.8%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Blue Earth County	Rice County
1-unit, detached	59.4%	71.2%
1-unit, attached	7.0%	5.2%
2 to 4 units	6.5%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	8.7%	6.9%
20 or more units	14.1%	7.2%
Mobile home & other	4.3%	4.4%

Poverty & households

	Blue Earth County	Rice County
Poverty rate	16.3%	9.3%
Average household size	2.40	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	17	23
Median year structure built	1977	1977