Ottertail, MN population, income and ZIP codes

Ottertail city is a very small community in Minnesota, with 490 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #506 of 914 ranked by population — larger than 44% of them. The median age here is 58.7 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 Ottertail city earn a median of $83,750 a year, 6.6% above the national figure of $78,538 and 11% above the $75,469 median for the 361 Minnesota cities we cover. Median household income counts every pre-tax dollar arriving at an address — wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest and public assistance — for everyone living there, so multi-earner households pull the figure up even where individual pay is modest. Poverty reaches 7.1% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Ottertail city is valued at $262,500, 13.5% below the national figure and 9% above the $240,400 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,047 a month, 25.5% below the national figure, or roughly $12,564 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 15% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 3.1×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 89.7% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, an owner-dominated market where rental listings are scarce and rent medians rest on a thin sample. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

A median age of 58.7 puts Ottertail city well into retirement-weighted territory, which pulls median household income down even where household wealth is high, because retirement draws are counted differently from wages. With 490 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare Ottertail city against its county rather than against national figures.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. 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.