Nobles County vs Wabasha County

A side-by-side comparison of Nobles County and Wabasha County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Nobles County has the higher population (22,067 vs 21,519 in Wabasha County). Wabasha County has the higher median household income ($80,133 vs $65,509 in Nobles County). Wabasha County has the higher median home value ($245,800 vs $179,200 in Nobles County).

Population, income & housing

	Nobles County	Wabasha County
Population	22,067	21,519
Median age	36.3 yrs	44.8 yrs
Median household income	$65,509	$80,133
Median home value	$179,200	$245,800
Median gross rent	$863	$798
Housing units	8,398	10,229
Homeownership rate	71.9%	81.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.7%	26.6%
Unemployment rate	2.6%	2.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Nobles County	Wabasha County
Population	21,734 → 22,067 (+1.5%)	21,537 → 21,519 (-0.1%)
Median household income	$55,304 → $65,509 (+18.5%)	$65,226 → $80,133 (+22.9%)
Median home value	$127,100 → $179,200 (+41.0%)	$183,900 → $245,800 (+33.7%)
Median gross rent	$726 → $863 (+18.9%)	$690 → $798 (+15.7%)

Nobles County

Population

21,73422,067

Median household income

$55,304$65,509

Median home value

$127,100$179,200

Median gross rent

$726$863

Wabasha County

Population

21,53721,519

Median household income

$65,226$80,133

Median home value

$183,900$245,800

Median gross rent

$690$798

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Nobles County	Wabasha County
Under 5	8.4%	5.7%
5 to 17	20.1%	16.4%
18 to 24	9.2%	6.1%
25 to 34	11.0%	10.3%
35 to 44	11.9%	11.7%
45 to 54	10.7%	11.5%
55 to 64	11.3%	15.6%
65 to 74	9.8%	12.9%
75 and over	7.5%	9.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Nobles County	Wabasha County
White (non-Hispanic)	53.1%	93.6%
Black or African American	4.6%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	4.6%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.2%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.2%	1.7%
Hispanic or Latino	33.1%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Nobles County	Wabasha County
No high school diploma	22.2%	5.1%
High school graduate	30.0%	32.3%
Some college or associate's	30.1%	36.0%
Bachelor's degree	13.3%	18.1%
Graduate or professional degree	4.4%	8.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Nobles County	Wabasha County
Drove alone	73.9%	75.0%
Carpooled	13.1%	8.9%
Public transit	1.1%	0.2%
Walked	4.7%	3.8%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.5%
Worked from home	6.0%	10.5%
Other means	1.0%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Nobles County	Wabasha County
1-unit, detached	78.6%	77.8%
1-unit, attached	2.9%	4.2%
2 to 4 units	3.3%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	5.7%	4.1%
20 or more units	6.8%	2.9%
Mobile home & other	2.7%	7.1%

Poverty & households

	Nobles County	Wabasha County
Poverty rate	12.6%	8.4%
Average household size	2.80	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	19	25
Median year structure built	1968	1977