French Island vs Onalaska

A side-by-side comparison of French Island and Onalaska: population, income, housing, and more.

French Island and Onalaska are places in Wisconsin. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Onalaska has the higher population (18,909 vs 4,235 in French Island). Onalaska has the higher median household income ($84,898 vs $59,462 in French Island). Onalaska has the higher median home value ($279,100 vs $198,200 in French Island).

Population, income & housing

	French Island	Onalaska
Population	4,235	18,909
Median age	47.3 yrs	40.3 yrs
Median household income	$59,462	$84,898
Median home value	$198,200	$279,100
Median gross rent	$983	$1,096
Housing units	2,048	8,676
Homeownership rate	76.6%	63.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.8%	41.4%
Unemployment rate	10.7%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	French Island	Onalaska
Population	4,341 → 4,235 (-2.4%)	18,662 → 18,909 (+1.3%)
Median household income	$62,424 → $59,462 (-4.7%)	$61,429 → $84,898 (+38.2%)
Median home value	$161,400 → $198,200 (+22.8%)	$196,600 → $279,100 (+42.0%)
Median gross rent	$833 → $983 (+18.0%)	$890 → $1,096 (+23.1%)

French Island

Population

4,3414,235

Median household income

$62,424$59,462

Median home value

$161,400$198,200

Median gross rent

$833$983

Onalaska

Population

18,66218,909

Median household income

$61,429$84,898

Median home value

$196,600$279,100

Median gross rent

$890$1,096

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	French Island	Onalaska
Under 5	6.0%	5.4%
5 to 17	10.5%	15.0%
18 to 24	3.4%	9.4%
25 to 34	16.9%	13.3%
35 to 44	11.6%	13.4%
45 to 54	10.8%	10.4%
55 to 64	19.8%	13.7%
65 to 74	14.8%	9.5%
75 and over	6.1%	9.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	French Island	Onalaska
White (non-Hispanic)	94.3%	84.9%
Black or African American	1.2%	2.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.5%
Asian	0.9%	5.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.6%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.0%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	2.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	French Island	Onalaska
No high school diploma	2.2%	1.4%
High school graduate	38.1%	19.6%
Some college or associate's	32.9%	37.6%
Bachelor's degree	17.3%	25.1%
Graduate or professional degree	9.5%	16.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	French Island	Onalaska
Drove alone	75.8%	83.1%
Carpooled	9.5%	7.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.8%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	9.7%	8.1%
Other means	2.1%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	French Island	Onalaska
1-unit, detached	75.9%	55.8%
1-unit, attached	3.1%	10.1%
2 to 4 units	6.1%	10.6%
5 to 19 units	9.3%	9.2%
20 or more units	0.8%	9.7%
Mobile home & other	4.7%	4.7%

Poverty & households

	French Island	Onalaska
Poverty rate	14.2%	5.9%
Average household size	2.17	2.21
Mean commute (minutes)	16	18
Median year structure built	1976	1991