McLeod County vs Steele County

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

McLeod 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 36,771 in McLeod County). Steele County has the higher median household income ($83,448 vs $78,468 in McLeod County). Steele County has the higher median home value ($234,200 vs $233,400 in McLeod County).

Population, income & housing

	McLeod County	Steele County
Population	36,771	37,413
Median age	41.5 yrs	40.2 yrs
Median household income	$78,468	$83,448
Median home value	$233,400	$234,200
Median gross rent	$906	$1,006
Housing units	15,936	15,878
Homeownership rate	77.8%	79.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.6%	29.7%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	McLeod County	Steele County
Population	35,832 → 36,771 (+2.6%)	36,683 → 37,413 (+2.0%)
Median household income	$62,121 → $78,468 (+26.3%)	$64,903 → $83,448 (+28.6%)
Median home value	$164,700 → $233,400 (+41.7%)	$169,300 → $234,200 (+38.3%)
Median gross rent	$781 → $906 (+16.0%)	$770 → $1,006 (+30.6%)

McLeod County

Population

35,83236,771

Median household income

$62,121$78,468

Median home value

$164,700$233,400

Median gross rent

$781$906

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)

	McLeod County	Steele County
Under 5	5.4%	5.4%
5 to 17	16.8%	19.2%
18 to 24	7.7%	7.4%
25 to 34	11.5%	11.3%
35 to 44	12.7%	12.8%
45 to 54	12.0%	11.8%
55 to 64	14.1%	13.5%
65 to 74	10.7%	10.7%
75 and over	9.0%	8.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	McLeod County	Steele County
White (non-Hispanic)	89.0%	84.3%
Black or African American	0.5%	3.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.6%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.4%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	7.2%	8.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	McLeod County	Steele County
No high school diploma	6.5%	6.3%
High school graduate	34.9%	30.2%
Some college or associate's	39.0%	33.8%
Bachelor's degree	13.0%	20.4%
Graduate or professional degree	6.6%	9.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	McLeod County	Steele County
Drove alone	79.9%	79.6%
Carpooled	7.1%	6.6%
Public transit	0.5%	1.1%
Walked	2.9%	2.9%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.3%
Worked from home	7.7%	8.6%
Other means	1.2%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	McLeod County	Steele County
1-unit, detached	71.4%	76.0%
1-unit, attached	6.5%	4.9%
2 to 4 units	4.2%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	6.9%	4.6%
20 or more units	6.1%	6.5%
Mobile home & other	5.0%	3.9%

Poverty & households

	McLeod County	Steele County
Poverty rate	7.7%	7.4%
Average household size	2.42	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	24	19
Median year structure built	1979	1975