Melrose vs Waite Park

A side-by-side comparison of Melrose and Waite Park: population, income, housing, and more.

Melrose and Waite Park are places in Minnesota. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Waite Park has the higher population (8,341 vs 3,608 in Melrose). Melrose has the higher median household income ($58,107 vs $56,884 in Waite Park). Waite Park has the higher median home value ($217,000 vs $198,300 in Melrose).

Population, income & housing

	Melrose	Waite Park
Population	3,608	8,341
Median age	43.4 yrs	39.3 yrs
Median household income	$58,107	$56,884
Median home value	$198,300	$217,000
Median gross rent	$1,061	$1,072
Housing units	1,655	3,712
Homeownership rate	71.8%	52.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.8%	17.6%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	9.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Melrose	Waite Park
Population	3,647 → 3,608 (-1.1%)	7,692 → 8,341 (+8.4%)
Median household income	$56,591 → $58,107 (+2.7%)	$41,200 → $56,884 (+38.1%)
Median home value	$131,000 → $198,300 (+51.4%)	$151,700 → $217,000 (+43.0%)
Median gross rent	$873 → $1,061 (+21.5%)	$844 → $1,072 (+27.0%)

Melrose

Population

3,6473,608

Median household income

$56,591$58,107

Median home value

$131,000$198,300

Median gross rent

$873$1,061

Waite Park

Population

7,6928,341

Median household income

$41,200$56,884

Median home value

$151,700$217,000

Median gross rent

$844$1,072

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Melrose	Waite Park
Under 5	6.9%	8.4%
5 to 17	15.2%	17.4%
18 to 24	6.9%	8.7%
25 to 34	11.9%	11.7%
35 to 44	9.8%	11.8%
45 to 54	12.4%	9.2%
55 to 64	14.9%	13.0%
65 to 74	13.5%	8.3%
75 and over	8.5%	11.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Melrose	Waite Park
White (non-Hispanic)	79.7%	51.1%
Black or African American	0.5%	34.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.0%	2.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.4%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	18.4%	8.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Melrose	Waite Park
No high school diploma	8.2%	15.9%
High school graduate	42.7%	31.4%
Some college or associate's	31.3%	35.1%
Bachelor's degree	9.2%	12.1%
Graduate or professional degree	8.6%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Melrose	Waite Park
Drove alone	72.1%	80.6%
Carpooled	8.9%	8.0%
Public transit	0.1%	1.8%
Walked	8.1%	3.7%
Bicycle	1.0%	1.2%
Worked from home	9.8%	4.5%
Other means	0.0%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Melrose	Waite Park
1-unit, detached	72.0%	48.2%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	2.0%
2 to 4 units	6.8%	2.8%
5 to 19 units	0.6%	5.7%
20 or more units	13.4%	35.4%
Mobile home & other	6.6%	5.8%

Poverty & households

	Melrose	Waite Park
Poverty rate	8.6%	24.1%
Average household size	2.27	2.31
Mean commute (minutes)	19	19
Median year structure built	1967	1991