Wauwatosa vs West Allis

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

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

West Allis has the higher population (59,588 vs 47,718 in Wauwatosa). Wauwatosa has the higher median household income ($93,859 vs $69,685 in West Allis). Wauwatosa has the higher median home value ($307,600 vs $191,700 in West Allis).

Population, income & housing

	Wauwatosa	West Allis
Population	47,718	59,588
Median age	38.7 yrs	39.0 yrs
Median household income	$93,859	$69,685
Median home value	$307,600	$191,700
Median gross rent	$1,373	$1,012
Housing units	22,976	29,841
Homeownership rate	60.3%	54.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	61.5%	29.4%
Unemployment rate	2.0%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Wauwatosa	West Allis
Population	47,971 → 47,718 (-0.5%)	60,025 → 59,588 (-0.7%)
Median household income	$82,392 → $93,859 (+13.9%)	$52,325 → $69,685 (+33.2%)
Median home value	$242,800 → $307,600 (+26.7%)	$146,100 → $191,700 (+31.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,116 → $1,373 (+23.0%)	$845 → $1,012 (+19.8%)

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

West Allis

Population

60,02559,588

Median household income

$52,325$69,685

Median home value

$146,100$191,700

Median gross rent

$845$1,012

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Wauwatosa	West Allis
Under 5	5.9%	6.1%
5 to 17	15.2%	14.1%
18 to 24	6.1%	5.8%
25 to 34	17.0%	18.3%
35 to 44	14.6%	13.4%
45 to 54	11.9%	11.2%
55 to 64	11.5%	14.6%
65 to 74	9.9%	11.1%
75 and over	7.9%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Wauwatosa	West Allis
White (non-Hispanic)	77.8%	69.8%
Black or African American	6.9%	5.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.3%
Asian	4.7%	3.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.5%	4.8%
Hispanic or Latino	5.2%	16.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Wauwatosa	West Allis
No high school diploma	2.4%	7.4%
High school graduate	13.6%	31.3%
Some college or associate's	22.5%	31.9%
Bachelor's degree	36.6%	22.0%
Graduate or professional degree	24.9%	7.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Wauwatosa	West Allis
Drove alone	71.8%	79.0%
Carpooled	5.5%	6.3%
Public transit	0.7%	3.6%
Walked	2.5%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.3%
Worked from home	18.1%	8.6%
Other means	0.8%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Wauwatosa	West Allis
1-unit, detached	54.6%	50.9%
1-unit, attached	3.4%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	17.1%	19.7%
5 to 19 units	5.1%	9.8%
20 or more units	19.9%	15.9%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	1.9%

Poverty & households

	Wauwatosa	West Allis
Poverty rate	5.9%	10.5%
Average household size	2.17	2.12
Mean commute (minutes)	20	21
Median year structure built	1954	1956