St. Louis County vs Stearns County

A side-by-side comparison of St. Louis County and Stearns County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

St. Louis County has the higher population (200,056 vs 159,358 in Stearns County). Stearns County has the higher median household income ($76,447 vs $69,455 in St. Louis County). Stearns County has the higher median home value ($256,500 vs $208,500 in St. Louis County).

Population, income & housing

	St. Louis County	Stearns County
Population	200,056	159,358
Median age	41.3 yrs	35.0 yrs
Median household income	$69,455	$76,447
Median home value	$208,500	$256,500
Median gross rent	$970	$1,057
Housing units	103,924	66,211
Homeownership rate	72.0%	67.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.5%	28.6%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	St. Louis County	Stearns County
Population	199,759 → 200,056 (+0.1%)	158,452 → 159,358 (+0.6%)
Median household income	$55,646 → $69,455 (+24.8%)	$62,789 → $76,447 (+21.8%)
Median home value	$157,900 → $208,500 (+32.0%)	$184,900 → $256,500 (+38.7%)
Median gross rent	$770 → $970 (+26.0%)	$833 → $1,057 (+26.9%)

St. Louis County

Population

199,759200,056

Median household income

$55,646$69,455

Median home value

$157,900$208,500

Median gross rent

$770$970

Stearns County

Population

158,452159,358

Median household income

$62,789$76,447

Median home value

$184,900$256,500

Median gross rent

$833$1,057

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	St. Louis County	Stearns County
Under 5	4.7%	6.4%
5 to 17	14.0%	17.2%
18 to 24	12.2%	14.5%
25 to 34	11.5%	11.9%
35 to 44	11.8%	11.8%
45 to 54	10.9%	10.4%
55 to 64	14.0%	12.1%
65 to 74	12.7%	9.2%
75 and over	8.2%	6.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	St. Louis County	Stearns County
White (non-Hispanic)	89.9%	81.5%
Black or African American	1.6%	8.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.6%	0.1%
Asian	1.0%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.7%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	4.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	St. Louis County	Stearns County
No high school diploma	5.0%	7.2%
High school graduate	25.3%	27.9%
Some college or associate's	37.2%	36.3%
Bachelor's degree	20.7%	18.7%
Graduate or professional degree	11.8%	9.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	St. Louis County	Stearns County
Drove alone	76.1%	75.7%
Carpooled	7.4%	7.5%
Public transit	1.6%	1.5%
Walked	3.6%	4.5%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.5%
Worked from home	9.9%	9.3%
Other means	0.9%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	St. Louis County	Stearns County
1-unit, detached	74.1%	69.3%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	3.8%
2 to 4 units	7.3%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	4.0%	7.0%
20 or more units	8.9%	14.7%
Mobile home & other	4.0%	2.0%

Poverty & households

	St. Louis County	Stearns County
Poverty rate	13.4%	12.2%
Average household size	2.22	2.49
Mean commute (minutes)	20	22
Median year structure built	1962	1984