Fort Atkinson vs Watertown

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

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

Watertown has the higher population (22,873 vs 12,490 in Fort Atkinson). Fort Atkinson has the higher median household income ($75,350 vs $68,333 in Watertown). Watertown has the higher median home value ($211,500 vs $198,600 in Fort Atkinson).

Population, income & housing

	Fort Atkinson	Watertown
Population	12,490	22,873
Median age	41.5 yrs	40.4 yrs
Median household income	$75,350	$68,333
Median home value	$198,600	$211,500
Median gross rent	$957	$1,061
Housing units	5,701	9,360
Homeownership rate	70.2%	59.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.3%	19.0%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fort Atkinson	Watertown
Population	12,443 → 12,490 (+0.4%)	23,633 → 22,873 (-3.2%)
Median household income	$55,404 → $75,350 (+36.0%)	$51,534 → $68,333 (+32.6%)
Median home value	$157,000 → $198,600 (+26.5%)	$153,100 → $211,500 (+38.1%)
Median gross rent	$838 → $957 (+14.2%)	$860 → $1,061 (+23.4%)

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

Watertown

Population

23,63322,873

Median household income

$51,534$68,333

Median home value

$153,100$211,500

Median gross rent

$860$1,061

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fort Atkinson	Watertown
Under 5	3.9%	5.9%
5 to 17	15.9%	16.3%
18 to 24	6.7%	11.0%
25 to 34	14.0%	10.4%
35 to 44	13.7%	12.1%
45 to 54	12.4%	11.9%
55 to 64	14.9%	13.5%
65 to 74	10.0%	9.4%
75 and over	8.4%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fort Atkinson	Watertown
White (non-Hispanic)	84.7%	85.1%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.7%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.6%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	11.4%	11.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fort Atkinson	Watertown
No high school diploma	9.2%	8.3%
High school graduate	32.6%	40.5%
Some college or associate's	31.8%	32.2%
Bachelor's degree	18.0%	14.3%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	4.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fort Atkinson	Watertown
Drove alone	78.4%	76.9%
Carpooled	6.5%	10.6%
Public transit	0.6%	0.0%
Walked	2.5%	3.9%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.5%
Worked from home	8.4%	6.1%
Other means	3.2%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fort Atkinson	Watertown
1-unit, detached	66.6%	61.8%
1-unit, attached	5.4%	4.6%
2 to 4 units	10.5%	13.0%
5 to 19 units	10.6%	10.8%
20 or more units	5.9%	9.7%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Fort Atkinson	Watertown
Poverty rate	7.1%	9.9%
Average household size	2.27	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	20	24
Median year structure built	1965	1971