Cass County vs Polk County

A side-by-side comparison of Cass County and Polk County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Polk County has the higher population (30,905 vs 30,688 in Cass County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($69,136 vs $64,937 in Cass County). Cass County has the higher median home value ($262,300 vs $211,100 in Polk County).

Population, income & housing

	Cass County	Polk County
Population	30,688	30,905
Median age	49.7 yrs	39.5 yrs
Median household income	$64,937	$69,136
Median home value	$262,300	$211,100
Median gross rent	$889	$843
Housing units	24,294	14,670
Homeownership rate	84.9%	72.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.4%	28.1%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cass County	Polk County
Population	29,268 → 30,688 (+4.9%)	31,521 → 30,905 (-2.0%)
Median household income	$52,204 → $64,937 (+24.4%)	$59,343 → $69,136 (+16.5%)
Median home value	$194,200 → $262,300 (+35.1%)	$165,000 → $211,100 (+27.9%)
Median gross rent	$739 → $889 (+20.3%)	$716 → $843 (+17.7%)

Cass County

Population

29,26830,688

Median household income

$52,204$64,937

Median home value

$194,200$262,300

Median gross rent

$739$889

Polk County

Population

31,52130,905

Median household income

$59,343$69,136

Median home value

$165,000$211,100

Median gross rent

$716$843

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cass County	Polk County
Under 5	4.8%	6.3%
5 to 17	15.5%	18.3%
18 to 24	5.9%	8.0%
25 to 34	9.0%	12.0%
35 to 44	10.1%	12.2%
45 to 54	10.7%	10.7%
55 to 64	17.1%	13.7%
65 to 74	16.4%	10.6%
75 and over	10.4%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cass County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	81.1%	84.7%
Black or African American	0.4%	2.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	8.7%	1.0%
Asian	0.5%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.8%
Two or more races	7.0%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	1.7%	6.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cass County	Polk County
No high school diploma	5.6%	6.8%
High school graduate	31.9%	28.1%
Some college or associate's	37.1%	37.0%
Bachelor's degree	18.0%	20.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	7.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cass County	Polk County
Drove alone	72.8%	78.1%
Carpooled	10.4%	7.6%
Public transit	0.6%	0.7%
Walked	3.5%	5.5%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.4%
Worked from home	10.8%	6.0%
Other means	1.8%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cass County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	85.2%	72.4%
1-unit, attached	2.2%	2.1%
2 to 4 units	1.1%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	1.6%	6.6%
20 or more units	1.1%	8.2%
Mobile home & other	8.6%	5.6%

Poverty & households

	Cass County	Polk County
Poverty rate	12.7%	11.7%
Average household size	2.37	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	25	19
Median year structure built	1990	1971