Carlton County vs Steele County

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

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

Steele County has the higher population (37,413 vs 36,457 in Carlton County). Steele County has the higher median household income ($83,448 vs $80,042 in Carlton County). Steele County has the higher median home value ($234,200 vs $232,000 in Carlton County).

Population, income & housing

	Carlton County	Steele County
Population	36,457	37,413
Median age	41.7 yrs	40.2 yrs
Median household income	$80,042	$83,448
Median home value	$232,000	$234,200
Median gross rent	$967	$1,006
Housing units	15,830	15,878
Homeownership rate	79.4%	79.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.5%	29.7%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carlton County	Steele County
Population	35,633 → 36,457 (+2.3%)	36,683 → 37,413 (+2.0%)
Median household income	$63,098 → $80,042 (+26.9%)	$64,903 → $83,448 (+28.6%)
Median home value	$171,400 → $232,000 (+35.4%)	$169,300 → $234,200 (+38.3%)
Median gross rent	$776 → $967 (+24.6%)	$770 → $1,006 (+30.6%)

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

Steele County

Population

36,68337,413

Median household income

$64,903$83,448

Median home value

$169,300$234,200

Median gross rent

$770$1,006

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carlton County	Steele County
Under 5	5.1%	5.4%
5 to 17	16.9%	19.2%
18 to 24	7.2%	7.4%
25 to 34	11.7%	11.3%
35 to 44	13.8%	12.8%
45 to 54	12.9%	11.8%
55 to 64	14.3%	13.5%
65 to 74	10.9%	10.7%
75 and over	7.3%	8.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carlton County	Steele County
White (non-Hispanic)	87.3%	84.3%
Black or African American	2.1%	3.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	3.4%	0.1%
Asian	0.5%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.5%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	8.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carlton County	Steele County
No high school diploma	6.5%	6.3%
High school graduate	30.7%	30.2%
Some college or associate's	37.3%	33.8%
Bachelor's degree	17.1%	20.4%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	9.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carlton County	Steele County
Drove alone	80.0%	79.6%
Carpooled	7.8%	6.6%
Public transit	0.3%	1.1%
Walked	1.9%	2.9%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.3%
Worked from home	8.6%	8.6%
Other means	1.1%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carlton County	Steele County
1-unit, detached	80.5%	76.0%
1-unit, attached	2.2%	4.9%
2 to 4 units	2.7%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	3.8%	4.6%
20 or more units	4.4%	6.5%
Mobile home & other	6.5%	3.9%

Poverty & households

	Carlton County	Steele County
Poverty rate	11.1%	7.4%
Average household size	2.40	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	22	19
Median year structure built	1974	1975