Mower County vs Steele County

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

Mower 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.

Mower County has the higher population (40,069 vs 37,413 in Steele County). Steele County has the higher median household income ($83,448 vs $71,495 in Mower County). Steele County has the higher median home value ($234,200 vs $172,000 in Mower County).

Population, income & housing

	Mower County	Steele County
Population	40,069	37,413
Median age	38.9 yrs	40.2 yrs
Median household income	$71,495	$83,448
Median home value	$172,000	$234,200
Median gross rent	$848	$1,006
Housing units	16,963	15,878
Homeownership rate	76.0%	79.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.5%	29.7%
Unemployment rate	3.7%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mower County	Steele County
Population	39,807 → 40,069 (+0.7%)	36,683 → 37,413 (+2.0%)
Median household income	$54,295 → $71,495 (+31.7%)	$64,903 → $83,448 (+28.6%)
Median home value	$123,900 → $172,000 (+38.8%)	$169,300 → $234,200 (+38.3%)
Median gross rent	$716 → $848 (+18.4%)	$770 → $1,006 (+30.6%)

Mower County

Population

39,80740,069

Median household income

$54,295$71,495

Median home value

$123,900$172,000

Median gross rent

$716$848

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)

	Mower County	Steele County
Under 5	6.5%	5.4%
5 to 17	19.0%	19.2%
18 to 24	8.2%	7.4%
25 to 34	11.6%	11.3%
35 to 44	13.4%	12.8%
45 to 54	10.7%	11.8%
55 to 64	12.2%	13.5%
65 to 74	10.2%	10.7%
75 and over	8.2%	8.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mower County	Steele County
White (non-Hispanic)	74.0%	84.3%
Black or African American	3.5%	3.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	5.7%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.6%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	13.0%	8.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mower County	Steele County
No high school diploma	10.3%	6.3%
High school graduate	32.8%	30.2%
Some college or associate's	33.4%	33.8%
Bachelor's degree	15.4%	20.4%
Graduate or professional degree	8.1%	9.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mower County	Steele County
Drove alone	77.9%	79.6%
Carpooled	10.7%	6.6%
Public transit	0.9%	1.1%
Walked	2.8%	2.9%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.3%
Worked from home	6.4%	8.6%
Other means	1.0%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mower County	Steele County
1-unit, detached	77.4%	76.0%
1-unit, attached	3.8%	4.9%
2 to 4 units	4.9%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	5.2%	4.6%
20 or more units	6.5%	6.5%
Mobile home & other	2.2%	3.9%

Poverty & households

	Mower County	Steele County
Poverty rate	12.1%	7.4%
Average household size	2.52	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	20	19
Median year structure built	1957	1975