Birchwood vs Shell Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Birchwood and Shell Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Shell Lake has the higher population (1,513 vs 404 in Birchwood). Birchwood has the higher median household income ($58,750 vs $56,875 in Shell Lake). Shell Lake has the higher median home value ($207,100 vs $146,900 in Birchwood).

Population, income & housing

	Birchwood	Shell Lake
Population	404	1,513
Median age	37.6 yrs	45.0 yrs
Median household income	$58,750	$56,875
Median home value	$146,900	$207,100
Median gross rent	$399	$713
Housing units	205	938
Homeownership rate	63.3%	71.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	9.0%	28.7%
Unemployment rate	1.8%	1.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Birchwood	Shell Lake
Population	343 → 404 (+17.8%)	1,320 → 1,513 (+14.6%)
Median household income	$41,364 → $58,750 (+42.0%)	$38,152 → $56,875 (+49.1%)
Median home value	$88,800 → $146,900 (+65.4%)	$124,200 → $207,100 (+66.7%)
Median gross rent	$594 → $399 (-32.8%)	$652 → $713 (+9.4%)

Birchwood

Population

343404

Median household income

$41,364$58,750

Median home value

$88,800$146,900

Median gross rent

$594$399

Shell Lake

Population

1,3201,513

Median household income

$38,152$56,875

Median home value

$124,200$207,100

Median gross rent

$652$713

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Birchwood	Shell Lake
Under 5	6.9%	3.6%
5 to 17	12.4%	20.9%
18 to 24	14.6%	6.3%
25 to 34	11.9%	7.7%
35 to 44	8.4%	11.4%
45 to 54	11.6%	9.2%
55 to 64	13.9%	12.8%
65 to 74	13.6%	15.0%
75 and over	6.7%	13.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Birchwood	Shell Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	95.3%	92.0%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	1.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.7%	5.9%
Hispanic or Latino	0.5%	0.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Birchwood	Shell Lake
No high school diploma	12.0%	7.6%
High school graduate	47.9%	27.6%
Some college or associate's	31.1%	36.1%
Bachelor's degree	7.1%	20.3%
Graduate or professional degree	1.9%	8.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Birchwood	Shell Lake
Drove alone	69.8%	71.3%
Carpooled	20.7%	12.4%
Public transit	2.7%	0.0%
Walked	0.9%	1.6%
Bicycle	1.4%	1.4%
Worked from home	4.5%	12.2%
Other means	0.0%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Birchwood	Shell Lake
1-unit, detached	78.5%	74.6%
1-unit, attached	6.8%	3.4%
2 to 4 units	2.9%	3.6%
5 to 19 units	11.2%	6.3%
20 or more units	0.5%	7.5%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	4.6%

Poverty & households

	Birchwood	Shell Lake
Poverty rate	12.9%	9.0%
Average household size	2.43	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	20	20
Median year structure built	1966	1977