Milwaukee vs Wauwatosa

A side-by-side comparison of Milwaukee and Wauwatosa: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Milwaukee has the higher population (569,756 vs 47,718 in Wauwatosa). Wauwatosa has the higher median household income ($93,859 vs $51,888 in Milwaukee). Wauwatosa has the higher median home value ($307,600 vs $172,000 in Milwaukee).

Population, income & housing

	Milwaukee	Wauwatosa
Population	569,756	47,718
Median age	32.2 yrs	38.7 yrs
Median household income	$51,888	$93,859
Median home value	$172,000	$307,600
Median gross rent	$1,033	$1,373
Housing units	257,973	22,976
Homeownership rate	41.5%	60.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.6%	61.5%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	2.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Milwaukee	Wauwatosa
Population	594,548 → 569,756 (-4.2%)	47,971 → 47,718 (-0.5%)
Median household income	$41,838 → $51,888 (+24.0%)	$82,392 → $93,859 (+13.9%)
Median home value	$122,100 → $172,000 (+40.9%)	$242,800 → $307,600 (+26.7%)
Median gross rent	$858 → $1,033 (+20.4%)	$1,116 → $1,373 (+23.0%)

Milwaukee

Population

594,548569,756

Median household income

$41,838$51,888

Median home value

$122,100$172,000

Median gross rent

$858$1,033

Wauwatosa

Population

47,97147,718

Median household income

$82,392$93,859

Median home value

$242,800$307,600

Median gross rent

$1,116$1,373

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Milwaukee	Wauwatosa
Under 5	6.9%	5.9%
5 to 17	18.6%	15.2%
18 to 24	11.6%	6.1%
25 to 34	17.0%	17.0%
35 to 44	13.0%	14.6%
45 to 54	10.6%	11.9%
55 to 64	10.4%	11.5%
65 to 74	7.4%	9.9%
75 and over	4.4%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Milwaukee	Wauwatosa
White (non-Hispanic)	32.3%	77.8%
Black or African American	38.1%	6.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.4%
Asian	4.8%	4.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.5%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	20.7%	5.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Milwaukee	Wauwatosa
No high school diploma	14.5%	2.4%
High school graduate	30.8%	13.6%
Some college or associate's	28.1%	22.5%
Bachelor's degree	17.2%	36.6%
Graduate or professional degree	9.4%	24.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Milwaukee	Wauwatosa
Drove alone	67.8%	71.8%
Carpooled	10.0%	5.5%
Public transit	5.4%	0.7%
Walked	4.0%	2.5%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.6%
Worked from home	11.2%	18.1%
Other means	1.2%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Milwaukee	Wauwatosa
1-unit, detached	39.4%	54.6%
1-unit, attached	3.9%	3.4%
2 to 4 units	29.6%	17.1%
5 to 19 units	9.9%	5.1%
20 or more units	16.8%	19.9%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Milwaukee	Wauwatosa
Poverty rate	23.3%	5.9%
Average household size	2.40	2.17
Mean commute (minutes)	22	20
Median year structure built	1952	1954