Carlton County vs McLeod County

A side-by-side comparison of Carlton County and McLeod County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

McLeod County has the higher population (36,771 vs 36,457 in Carlton County). Carlton County has the higher median household income ($80,042 vs $78,468 in McLeod County). McLeod County has the higher median home value ($233,400 vs $232,000 in Carlton County).

Population, income & housing

	Carlton County	McLeod County
Population	36,457	36,771
Median age	41.7 yrs	41.5 yrs
Median household income	$80,042	$78,468
Median home value	$232,000	$233,400
Median gross rent	$967	$906
Housing units	15,830	15,936
Homeownership rate	79.4%	77.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.5%	19.6%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carlton County	McLeod County
Population	35,633 → 36,457 (+2.3%)	35,832 → 36,771 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$63,098 → $80,042 (+26.9%)	$62,121 → $78,468 (+26.3%)
Median home value	$171,400 → $232,000 (+35.4%)	$164,700 → $233,400 (+41.7%)
Median gross rent	$776 → $967 (+24.6%)	$781 → $906 (+16.0%)

Carlton County

Population

35,63336,457

Median household income

$63,098$80,042

Median home value

$171,400$232,000

Median gross rent

$776$967

McLeod County

Population

35,83236,771

Median household income

$62,121$78,468

Median home value

$164,700$233,400

Median gross rent

$781$906

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carlton County	McLeod County
Under 5	5.1%	5.4%
5 to 17	16.9%	16.8%
18 to 24	7.2%	7.7%
25 to 34	11.7%	11.5%
35 to 44	13.8%	12.7%
45 to 54	12.9%	12.0%
55 to 64	14.3%	14.1%
65 to 74	10.9%	10.7%
75 and over	7.3%	9.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carlton County	McLeod County
White (non-Hispanic)	87.3%	89.0%
Black or African American	2.1%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	3.4%	0.1%
Asian	0.5%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.5%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	7.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carlton County	McLeod County
No high school diploma	6.5%	6.5%
High school graduate	30.7%	34.9%
Some college or associate's	37.3%	39.0%
Bachelor's degree	17.1%	13.0%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	6.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carlton County	McLeod County
Drove alone	80.0%	79.9%
Carpooled	7.8%	7.1%
Public transit	0.3%	0.5%
Walked	1.9%	2.9%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.8%
Worked from home	8.6%	7.7%
Other means	1.1%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carlton County	McLeod County
1-unit, detached	80.5%	71.4%
1-unit, attached	2.2%	6.5%
2 to 4 units	2.7%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	3.8%	6.9%
20 or more units	4.4%	6.1%
Mobile home & other	6.5%	5.0%

Poverty & households

	Carlton County	McLeod County
Poverty rate	11.1%	7.7%
Average household size	2.40	2.42
Mean commute (minutes)	22	24
Median year structure built	1974	1979