Lake County vs Pope County

A side-by-side comparison of Lake County and Pope County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Pope County has the higher population (11,363 vs 10,911 in Lake County). Lake County has the higher median household income ($75,621 vs $72,205 in Pope County). Pope County has the higher median home value ($242,800 vs $222,900 in Lake County).

Population, income & housing

	Lake County	Pope County
Population	10,911	11,363
Median age	49.6 yrs	45.6 yrs
Median household income	$75,621	$72,205
Median home value	$222,900	$242,800
Median gross rent	$1,026	$851
Housing units	7,405	6,411
Homeownership rate	84.0%	82.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.8%	23.8%
Unemployment rate	2.4%	0.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lake County	Pope County
Population	10,560 → 10,911 (+3.3%)	11,048 → 11,363 (+2.9%)
Median household income	$61,452 → $75,621 (+23.1%)	$61,275 → $72,205 (+17.8%)
Median home value	$174,700 → $222,900 (+27.6%)	$174,300 → $242,800 (+39.3%)
Median gross rent	$662 → $1,026 (+55.0%)	$609 → $851 (+39.7%)

Lake County

Population

10,56010,911

Median household income

$61,452$75,621

Median home value

$174,700$222,900

Median gross rent

$662$1,026

Pope County

Population

11,04811,363

Median household income

$61,275$72,205

Median home value

$174,300$242,800

Median gross rent

$609$851

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lake County	Pope County
Under 5	4.5%	5.2%
5 to 17	14.6%	16.1%
18 to 24	5.6%	6.1%
25 to 34	8.9%	10.2%
35 to 44	11.5%	11.8%
45 to 54	11.0%	9.9%
55 to 64	16.6%	15.6%
65 to 74	16.0%	14.6%
75 and over	11.4%	10.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lake County	Pope County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.8%	94.1%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	0.2%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.9%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	1.4%	2.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lake County	Pope County
No high school diploma	6.8%	5.1%
High school graduate	30.8%	29.5%
Some college or associate's	36.5%	41.6%
Bachelor's degree	16.1%	16.8%
Graduate or professional degree	9.6%	7.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lake County	Pope County
Drove alone	77.5%	74.3%
Carpooled	6.3%	8.7%
Public transit	0.4%	0.3%
Walked	4.2%	4.7%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.1%
Worked from home	10.9%	10.9%
Other means	0.4%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lake County	Pope County
1-unit, detached	86.8%	84.8%
1-unit, attached	1.9%	2.8%
2 to 4 units	2.1%	2.3%
5 to 19 units	3.1%	3.1%
20 or more units	2.7%	4.3%
Mobile home & other	3.4%	2.7%

Poverty & households

	Lake County	Pope County
Poverty rate	8.3%	9.8%
Average household size	2.12	2.24
Mean commute (minutes)	24	22
Median year structure built	1970	1971