Stearns County vs Wright County

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

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

Stearns County has the higher population (159,358 vs 145,270 in Wright County). Wright County has the higher median household income ($106,666 vs $76,447 in Stearns County). Wright County has the higher median home value ($332,800 vs $256,500 in Stearns County).

Population, income & housing

	Stearns County	Wright County
Population	159,358	145,270
Median age	35.0 yrs	37.4 yrs
Median household income	$76,447	$106,666
Median home value	$256,500	$332,800
Median gross rent	$1,057	$1,246
Housing units	66,211	56,153
Homeownership rate	67.8%	84.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.6%	34.0%
Unemployment rate	4.3%	2.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Stearns County	Wright County
Population	158,452 → 159,358 (+0.6%)	134,438 → 145,270 (+8.1%)
Median household income	$62,789 → $76,447 (+21.8%)	$84,974 → $106,666 (+25.5%)
Median home value	$184,900 → $256,500 (+38.7%)	$238,500 → $332,800 (+39.5%)
Median gross rent	$833 → $1,057 (+26.9%)	$969 → $1,246 (+28.6%)

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

Wright County

Population

134,438145,270

Median household income

$84,974$106,666

Median home value

$238,500$332,800

Median gross rent

$969$1,246

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Stearns County	Wright County
Under 5	6.4%	6.7%
5 to 17	17.2%	20.8%
18 to 24	14.5%	7.2%
25 to 34	11.9%	11.8%
35 to 44	11.8%	14.6%
45 to 54	10.4%	13.1%
55 to 64	12.1%	12.5%
65 to 74	9.2%	8.1%
75 and over	6.6%	5.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Stearns County	Wright County
White (non-Hispanic)	81.5%	88.9%
Black or African American	8.3%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	1.9%	1.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.5%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	4.5%	3.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Stearns County	Wright County
No high school diploma	7.2%	5.1%
High school graduate	27.9%	26.8%
Some college or associate's	36.3%	34.1%
Bachelor's degree	18.7%	24.4%
Graduate or professional degree	9.9%	9.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Stearns County	Wright County
Drove alone	75.7%	77.7%
Carpooled	7.5%	7.3%
Public transit	1.5%	0.4%
Walked	4.5%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.1%
Worked from home	9.3%	13.0%
Other means	1.0%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Stearns County	Wright County
1-unit, detached	69.3%	78.6%
1-unit, attached	3.8%	8.6%
2 to 4 units	3.3%	1.5%
5 to 19 units	7.0%	3.3%
20 or more units	14.7%	4.1%
Mobile home & other	2.0%	3.9%

Poverty & households

	Stearns County	Wright County
Poverty rate	12.2%	4.9%
Average household size	2.49	2.73
Mean commute (minutes)	22	30
Median year structure built	1984	1994