Brookfield vs Waukesha

A side-by-side comparison of Brookfield and Waukesha: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Waukesha has the higher population (70,779 vs 41,592 in Brookfield). Brookfield has the higher median household income ($124,026 vs $81,651 in Waukesha). Brookfield has the higher median home value ($419,300 vs $286,600 in Waukesha).

Population, income & housing

	Brookfield	Waukesha
Population	41,592	70,779
Median age	43.6 yrs	36.4 yrs
Median household income	$124,026	$81,651
Median home value	$419,300	$286,600
Median gross rent	$1,794	$1,183
Housing units	16,662	31,019
Homeownership rate	82.7%	59.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	62.8%	40.7%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Brookfield	Waukesha
Population	38,358 → 41,592 (+8.4%)	72,412 → 70,779 (-2.3%)
Median household income	$108,198 → $124,026 (+14.6%)	$65,260 → $81,651 (+25.1%)
Median home value	$318,800 → $419,300 (+31.5%)	$212,700 → $286,600 (+34.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,526 → $1,794 (+17.6%)	$944 → $1,183 (+25.3%)

Brookfield

Population

38,35841,592

Median household income

$108,198$124,026

Median home value

$318,800$419,300

Median gross rent

$1,526$1,794

Waukesha

Population

72,41270,779

Median household income

$65,260$81,651

Median home value

$212,700$286,600

Median gross rent

$944$1,183

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Brookfield	Waukesha
Under 5	5.1%	5.3%
5 to 17	18.6%	14.7%
18 to 24	6.1%	11.7%
25 to 34	8.5%	16.1%
35 to 44	13.3%	12.5%
45 to 54	13.5%	11.4%
55 to 64	11.8%	13.3%
65 to 74	13.0%	8.8%
75 and over	10.1%	6.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Brookfield	Waukesha
White (non-Hispanic)	78.7%	78.3%
Black or African American	0.7%	3.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	11.4%	2.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.6%
Two or more races	4.5%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	4.2%	12.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Brookfield	Waukesha
No high school diploma	2.0%	4.5%
High school graduate	13.4%	22.1%
Some college or associate's	21.8%	32.7%
Bachelor's degree	34.8%	28.9%
Graduate or professional degree	28.0%	11.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Brookfield	Waukesha
Drove alone	74.1%	76.6%
Carpooled	4.6%	7.1%
Public transit	0.1%	0.5%
Walked	0.4%	3.0%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.0%
Worked from home	19.4%	11.8%
Other means	0.9%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Brookfield	Waukesha
1-unit, detached	75.6%	51.0%
1-unit, attached	7.3%	8.5%
2 to 4 units	1.7%	11.6%
5 to 19 units	5.8%	10.1%
20 or more units	9.2%	18.3%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	0.6%

Poverty & households

	Brookfield	Waukesha
Poverty rate	3.5%	10.3%
Average household size	2.54	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	20	22
Median year structure built	1974	1979