Fort Atkinson vs Waterloo

A side-by-side comparison of Fort Atkinson and Waterloo: population, income, housing, and more.

Fort Atkinson and Waterloo are places in Wisconsin. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Fort Atkinson has the higher population (12,490 vs 3,542 in Waterloo). Waterloo has the higher median household income ($78,103 vs $75,350 in Fort Atkinson). Waterloo has the higher median home value ($219,100 vs $198,600 in Fort Atkinson).

Population, income & housing

	Fort Atkinson	Waterloo
Population	12,490	3,542
Median age	41.5 yrs	38.3 yrs
Median household income	$75,350	$78,103
Median home value	$198,600	$219,100
Median gross rent	$957	$974
Housing units	5,701	1,620
Homeownership rate	70.2%	65.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.3%	23.9%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	0.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fort Atkinson	Waterloo
Population	12,443 → 12,490 (+0.4%)	3,337 → 3,542 (+6.1%)
Median household income	$55,404 → $75,350 (+36.0%)	$75,438 → $78,103 (+3.5%)
Median home value	$157,000 → $198,600 (+26.5%)	$161,500 → $219,100 (+35.7%)
Median gross rent	$838 → $957 (+14.2%)	$753 → $974 (+29.3%)

Fort Atkinson

Population

12,44312,490

Median household income

$55,404$75,350

Median home value

$157,000$198,600

Median gross rent

$838$957

Waterloo

Population

3,3373,542

Median household income

$75,438$78,103

Median home value

$161,500$219,100

Median gross rent

$753$974

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fort Atkinson	Waterloo
Under 5	3.9%	3.9%
5 to 17	15.9%	16.4%
18 to 24	6.7%	9.7%
25 to 34	14.0%	14.1%
35 to 44	13.7%	12.6%
45 to 54	12.4%	12.0%
55 to 64	14.9%	15.9%
65 to 74	10.0%	8.9%
75 and over	8.4%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fort Atkinson	Waterloo
White (non-Hispanic)	84.7%	78.7%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.7%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.6%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	11.4%	19.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fort Atkinson	Waterloo
No high school diploma	9.2%	9.6%
High school graduate	32.6%	41.7%
Some college or associate's	31.8%	24.8%
Bachelor's degree	18.0%	19.6%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	4.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fort Atkinson	Waterloo
Drove alone	78.4%	80.9%
Carpooled	6.5%	4.1%
Public transit	0.6%	0.0%
Walked	2.5%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.9%
Worked from home	8.4%	14.1%
Other means	3.2%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fort Atkinson	Waterloo
1-unit, detached	66.6%	63.0%
1-unit, attached	5.4%	5.8%
2 to 4 units	10.5%	15.2%
5 to 19 units	10.6%	12.2%
20 or more units	5.9%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	2.3%

Poverty & households

	Fort Atkinson	Waterloo
Poverty rate	7.1%	16.1%
Average household size	2.27	2.25
Mean commute (minutes)	20	29
Median year structure built	1965	1965