Faribault County vs Wadena County

A side-by-side comparison of Faribault County and Wadena County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wadena County has the higher population (14,135 vs 13,909 in Faribault County). Faribault County has the higher median household income ($64,391 vs $56,882 in Wadena County). Wadena County has the higher median home value ($170,500 vs $120,200 in Faribault County).

Population, income & housing

	Faribault County	Wadena County
Population	13,909	14,135
Median age	44.6 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$64,391	$56,882
Median home value	$120,200	$170,500
Median gross rent	$837	$706
Housing units	6,921	6,990
Homeownership rate	78.0%	72.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.6%	17.5%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	5.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Faribault County	Wadena County
Population	13,801 → 13,909 (+0.8%)	13,654 → 14,135 (+3.5%)
Median household income	$53,156 → $64,391 (+21.1%)	$46,605 → $56,882 (+22.1%)
Median home value	$89,500 → $120,200 (+34.3%)	$132,000 → $170,500 (+29.2%)
Median gross rent	$590 → $837 (+41.9%)	$668 → $706 (+5.7%)

Faribault County

Population

13,80113,909

Median household income

$53,156$64,391

Median home value

$89,500$120,200

Median gross rent

$590$837

Wadena County

Population

13,65414,135

Median household income

$46,605$56,882

Median home value

$132,000$170,500

Median gross rent

$668$706

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Faribault County	Wadena County
Under 5	5.1%	6.5%
5 to 17	16.8%	19.5%
18 to 24	6.9%	7.0%
25 to 34	9.7%	11.0%
35 to 44	11.9%	10.9%
45 to 54	11.3%	11.8%
55 to 64	15.0%	13.3%
65 to 74	13.0%	11.3%
75 and over	10.2%	8.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Faribault County	Wadena County
White (non-Hispanic)	88.6%	90.7%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	0.6%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.7%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	7.8%	2.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Faribault County	Wadena County
No high school diploma	8.0%	8.6%
High school graduate	33.4%	34.8%
Some college or associate's	37.1%	39.1%
Bachelor's degree	16.4%	13.2%
Graduate or professional degree	5.2%	4.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Faribault County	Wadena County
Drove alone	77.3%	77.1%
Carpooled	7.4%	10.6%
Public transit	0.4%	0.3%
Walked	5.5%	2.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.4%
Worked from home	8.6%	7.3%
Other means	0.9%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Faribault County	Wadena County
1-unit, detached	87.1%	74.5%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	3.8%
5 to 19 units	3.9%	6.1%
20 or more units	3.0%	6.6%
Mobile home & other	1.2%	7.6%

Poverty & households

	Faribault County	Wadena County
Poverty rate	11.8%	11.4%
Average household size	2.21	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	20	22
Median year structure built	1952	1974