Balaton, MN population, income and ZIP codes

Balaton city is a very small community in Minnesota, with 544 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #480 of 914 ranked by population — larger than 47% of them. The median age here is 46.7 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Balaton city earn a median of $54,091 a year, 31.1% below the national figure of $78,538 and 28% below the $75,469 median for the 361 Minnesota cities we cover. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 13.3% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Balaton city is valued at $85,000, 72% below the national figure and 65% below the $240,400 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,081 a month, 23.1% below the national figure, or roughly $12,972 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 24% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 1.6×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so purchase prices are unusually low against local pay, the pattern in places where supply is plentiful and wage growth has been flat. 76.2% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

With 544 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare Balaton city against its county rather than against national figures.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.