Otter Tail County vs Rice County

A side-by-side comparison of Otter Tail County and Rice County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Rice County has the higher population (67,389 vs 60,281 in Otter Tail County). Rice County has the higher median household income ($82,792 vs $70,912 in Otter Tail County). Rice County has the higher median home value ($298,500 vs $252,500 in Otter Tail County).

Population, income & housing

	Otter Tail County	Rice County
Population	60,281	67,389
Median age	46.3 yrs	37.1 yrs
Median household income	$70,912	$82,792
Median home value	$252,500	$298,500
Median gross rent	$805	$1,046
Housing units	36,669	25,173
Homeownership rate	79.2%	75.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.4%	29.7%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Otter Tail County	Rice County
Population	58,195 → 60,281 (+3.6%)	66,185 → 67,389 (+1.8%)
Median household income	$58,682 → $70,912 (+20.8%)	$68,584 → $82,792 (+20.7%)
Median home value	$189,100 → $252,500 (+33.5%)	$208,600 → $298,500 (+43.1%)
Median gross rent	$678 → $805 (+18.7%)	$843 → $1,046 (+24.1%)

Otter Tail County

Population

58,19560,281

Median household income

$58,682$70,912

Median home value

$189,100$252,500

Median gross rent

$678$805

Rice County

Population

66,18567,389

Median household income

$68,584$82,792

Median home value

$208,600$298,500

Median gross rent

$843$1,046

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Otter Tail County	Rice County
Under 5	5.4%	5.5%
5 to 17	16.4%	16.1%
18 to 24	6.6%	14.4%
25 to 34	9.5%	11.2%
35 to 44	11.0%	12.6%
45 to 54	10.6%	11.4%
55 to 64	15.6%	12.3%
65 to 74	14.4%	9.9%
75 and over	10.4%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Otter Tail County	Rice County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.9%	78.2%
Black or African American	1.0%	6.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	0.6%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.1%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	3.7%	10.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Otter Tail County	Rice County
No high school diploma	6.0%	7.0%
High school graduate	28.1%	33.0%
Some college or associate's	38.5%	30.3%
Bachelor's degree	18.6%	18.1%
Graduate or professional degree	8.8%	11.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Otter Tail County	Rice County
Drove alone	74.5%	68.4%
Carpooled	9.0%	9.9%
Public transit	0.7%	0.4%
Walked	3.1%	6.7%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.6%
Worked from home	10.9%	12.8%
Other means	1.3%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Otter Tail County	Rice County
1-unit, detached	80.9%	71.2%
1-unit, attached	2.7%	5.2%
2 to 4 units	2.3%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	3.7%	6.9%
20 or more units	4.1%	7.2%
Mobile home & other	6.3%	4.4%

Poverty & households

	Otter Tail County	Rice County
Poverty rate	8.9%	9.3%
Average household size	2.34	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	21	23
Median year structure built	1978	1977