Carlton County vs Nicollet County

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

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

Carlton County has the higher population (36,457 vs 34,350 in Nicollet County). Nicollet County has the higher median household income ($80,362 vs $80,042 in Carlton County). Nicollet County has the higher median home value ($258,500 vs $232,000 in Carlton County).

Population, income & housing

	Carlton County	Nicollet County
Population	36,457	34,350
Median age	41.7 yrs	37.8 yrs
Median household income	$80,042	$80,362
Median home value	$232,000	$258,500
Median gross rent	$967	$931
Housing units	15,830	13,530
Homeownership rate	79.4%	72.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.5%	35.7%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	1.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carlton County	Nicollet County
Population	35,633 → 36,457 (+2.3%)	33,954 → 34,350 (+1.2%)
Median household income	$63,098 → $80,042 (+26.9%)	$67,399 → $80,362 (+19.2%)
Median home value	$171,400 → $232,000 (+35.4%)	$191,900 → $258,500 (+34.7%)
Median gross rent	$776 → $967 (+24.6%)	$837 → $931 (+11.2%)

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

Nicollet County

Population

33,95434,350

Median household income

$67,399$80,362

Median home value

$191,900$258,500

Median gross rent

$837$931

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carlton County	Nicollet County
Under 5	5.1%	5.4%
5 to 17	16.9%	16.2%
18 to 24	7.2%	12.9%
25 to 34	11.7%	11.5%
35 to 44	13.8%	13.5%
45 to 54	12.9%	11.2%
55 to 64	14.3%	12.1%
65 to 74	10.9%	9.8%
75 and over	7.3%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carlton County	Nicollet County
White (non-Hispanic)	87.3%	85.9%
Black or African American	2.1%	3.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	3.4%	0.2%
Asian	0.5%	1.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.3%
Two or more races	4.5%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	5.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carlton County	Nicollet County
No high school diploma	6.5%	5.0%
High school graduate	30.7%	25.4%
Some college or associate's	37.3%	33.8%
Bachelor's degree	17.1%	23.3%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	12.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carlton County	Nicollet County
Drove alone	80.0%	69.9%
Carpooled	7.8%	7.2%
Public transit	0.3%	0.3%
Walked	1.9%	6.1%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.8%
Worked from home	8.6%	14.0%
Other means	1.1%	1.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carlton County	Nicollet County
1-unit, detached	80.5%	68.4%
1-unit, attached	2.2%	5.4%
2 to 4 units	2.7%	6.6%
5 to 19 units	3.8%	6.3%
20 or more units	4.4%	8.6%
Mobile home & other	6.5%	4.7%

Poverty & households

	Carlton County	Nicollet County
Poverty rate	11.1%	9.6%
Average household size	2.40	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	22	17
Median year structure built	1974	1979