Olmsted County vs Ramsey County

A side-by-side comparison of Olmsted County and Ramsey County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Ramsey County has the higher population (544,438 vs 163,425 in Olmsted County). Olmsted County has the higher median household income ($93,494 vs $81,004 in Ramsey County). Ramsey County has the higher median home value ($304,900 vs $304,500 in Olmsted County).

Population, income & housing

	Olmsted County	Ramsey County
Population	163,425	544,438
Median age	37.8 yrs	35.9 yrs
Median household income	$93,494	$81,004
Median home value	$304,500	$304,900
Median gross rent	$1,283	$1,298
Housing units	70,255	231,606
Homeownership rate	70.7%	61.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	48.5%	45.5%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Olmsted County	Ramsey County
Population	154,809 → 163,425 (+5.6%)	544,442 → 544,438 (-0.0%)
Median household income	$76,951 → $93,494 (+21.5%)	$64,660 → $81,004 (+25.3%)
Median home value	$214,600 → $304,500 (+41.9%)	$229,600 → $304,900 (+32.8%)
Median gross rent	$968 → $1,283 (+32.5%)	$1,007 → $1,298 (+28.9%)

Olmsted County

Population

154,809163,425

Median household income

$76,951$93,494

Median home value

$214,600$304,500

Median gross rent

$968$1,283

Ramsey County

Population

544,442544,438

Median household income

$64,660$81,004

Median home value

$229,600$304,900

Median gross rent

$1,007$1,298

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Olmsted County	Ramsey County
Under 5	6.4%	6.4%
5 to 17	17.9%	16.8%
18 to 24	7.9%	9.4%
25 to 34	14.1%	16.0%
35 to 44	14.1%	13.5%
45 to 54	10.9%	10.8%
55 to 64	12.4%	11.7%
65 to 74	9.2%	9.2%
75 and over	7.1%	6.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Olmsted County	Ramsey County
White (non-Hispanic)	76.3%	58.7%
Black or African American	7.2%	12.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.3%
Asian	6.3%	14.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.9%	5.4%
Hispanic or Latino	5.8%	8.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Olmsted County	Ramsey County
No high school diploma	5.0%	8.5%
High school graduate	19.8%	20.1%
Some college or associate's	26.7%	25.9%
Bachelor's degree	27.2%	27.5%
Graduate or professional degree	21.3%	18.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Olmsted County	Ramsey County
Drove alone	67.6%	63.6%
Carpooled	10.1%	8.9%
Public transit	3.2%	4.5%
Walked	3.6%	2.8%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.7%
Worked from home	13.6%	18.3%
Other means	1.1%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Olmsted County	Ramsey County
1-unit, detached	64.1%	52.1%
1-unit, attached	8.1%	7.5%
2 to 4 units	6.6%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	5.4%	9.5%
20 or more units	13.3%	22.8%
Mobile home & other	2.6%	1.3%

Poverty & households

	Olmsted County	Ramsey County
Poverty rate	7.9%	12.4%
Average household size	2.41	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	19	22
Median year structure built	1987	1965