Douglas County vs Steele County

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

Douglas 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.

Douglas County has the higher population (39,354 vs 37,413 in Steele County). Steele County has the higher median household income ($83,448 vs $77,264 in Douglas County). Douglas County has the higher median home value ($291,700 vs $234,200 in Steele County).

Population, income & housing

	Douglas County	Steele County
Population	39,354	37,413
Median age	44.3 yrs	40.2 yrs
Median household income	$77,264	$83,448
Median home value	$291,700	$234,200
Median gross rent	$896	$1,006
Housing units	22,087	15,878
Homeownership rate	76.4%	79.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.0%	29.7%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Douglas County	Steele County
Population	37,513 → 39,354 (+4.9%)	36,683 → 37,413 (+2.0%)
Median household income	$63,819 → $77,264 (+21.1%)	$64,903 → $83,448 (+28.6%)
Median home value	$214,800 → $291,700 (+35.8%)	$169,300 → $234,200 (+38.3%)
Median gross rent	$733 → $896 (+22.2%)	$770 → $1,006 (+30.6%)

Douglas County

Population

37,51339,354

Median household income

$63,819$77,264

Median home value

$214,800$291,700

Median gross rent

$733$896

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)

	Douglas County	Steele County
Under 5	5.7%	5.4%
5 to 17	15.8%	19.2%
18 to 24	6.9%	7.4%
25 to 34	10.9%	11.3%
35 to 44	11.7%	12.8%
45 to 54	10.8%	11.8%
55 to 64	14.4%	13.5%
65 to 74	13.3%	10.7%
75 and over	10.6%	8.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Douglas County	Steele County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.2%	84.3%
Black or African American	0.5%	3.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	0.4%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.0%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	2.2%	8.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Douglas County	Steele County
No high school diploma	4.0%	6.3%
High school graduate	30.0%	30.2%
Some college or associate's	37.0%	33.8%
Bachelor's degree	20.0%	20.4%
Graduate or professional degree	9.1%	9.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Douglas County	Steele County
Drove alone	79.6%	79.6%
Carpooled	6.3%	6.6%
Public transit	0.3%	1.1%
Walked	2.0%	2.9%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.3%
Worked from home	10.7%	8.6%
Other means	0.5%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Douglas County	Steele County
1-unit, detached	77.6%	76.0%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	4.9%
2 to 4 units	1.8%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	3.9%	4.6%
20 or more units	9.5%	6.5%
Mobile home & other	4.1%	3.9%

Poverty & households

	Douglas County	Steele County
Poverty rate	8.3%	7.4%
Average household size	2.22	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	20	19
Median year structure built	1985	1975