Appleton vs Kaukauna

A side-by-side comparison of Appleton and Kaukauna: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Appleton has the higher population (74,873 vs 17,237 in Kaukauna). Kaukauna has the higher median household income ($78,353 vs $77,450 in Appleton). Appleton has the higher median home value ($211,500 vs $198,800 in Kaukauna).

Population, income & housing

	Appleton	Kaukauna
Population	74,873	17,237
Median age	36.9 yrs	38.5 yrs
Median household income	$77,450	$78,353
Median home value	$211,500	$198,800
Median gross rent	$957	$988
Housing units	31,999	7,298
Homeownership rate	66.7%	72.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.0%	27.1%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Appleton	Kaukauna
Population	74,139 → 74,873 (+1.0%)	16,070 → 17,237 (+7.3%)
Median household income	$58,112 → $77,450 (+33.3%)	$62,822 → $78,353 (+24.7%)
Median home value	$147,800 → $211,500 (+43.1%)	$142,500 → $198,800 (+39.5%)
Median gross rent	$808 → $957 (+18.4%)	$855 → $988 (+15.6%)

Appleton

Population

74,13974,873

Median household income

$58,112$77,450

Median home value

$147,800$211,500

Median gross rent

$808$957

Kaukauna

Population

16,07017,237

Median household income

$62,822$78,353

Median home value

$142,500$198,800

Median gross rent

$855$988

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Appleton	Kaukauna
Under 5	6.0%	5.3%
5 to 17	16.9%	15.9%
18 to 24	9.7%	8.9%
25 to 34	14.9%	15.1%
35 to 44	12.8%	13.6%
45 to 54	12.4%	13.1%
55 to 64	11.4%	13.1%
65 to 74	9.3%	8.1%
75 and over	6.6%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Appleton	Kaukauna
White (non-Hispanic)	79.4%	89.8%
Black or African American	2.8%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.5%
Asian	6.7%	1.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.7%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	6.9%	4.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Appleton	Kaukauna
No high school diploma	5.8%	6.0%
High school graduate	25.9%	33.3%
Some college or associate's	31.3%	33.6%
Bachelor's degree	25.7%	19.6%
Graduate or professional degree	11.3%	7.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Appleton	Kaukauna
Drove alone	75.0%	81.8%
Carpooled	9.0%	7.7%
Public transit	0.6%	0.5%
Walked	2.7%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.4%
Worked from home	11.2%	7.3%
Other means	1.2%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Appleton	Kaukauna
1-unit, detached	66.6%	72.4%
1-unit, attached	6.7%	6.0%
2 to 4 units	9.2%	9.2%
5 to 19 units	10.3%	8.4%
20 or more units	6.8%	3.8%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Appleton	Kaukauna
Poverty rate	8.5%	8.0%
Average household size	2.35	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	19	21
Median year structure built	1971	1975