Adams County vs Vilas County

A side-by-side comparison of Adams County and Vilas County: population, income, housing, and more.

Adams County and Vilas County are counties in Wisconsin. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Vilas County has the higher population (23,410 vs 20,928 in Adams County). Vilas County has the higher median household income ($67,132 vs $59,153 in Adams County). Vilas County has the higher median home value ($270,700 vs $184,500 in Adams County).

Population, income & housing

	Adams County	Vilas County
Population	20,928	23,410
Median age	55.5 yrs	55.5 yrs
Median household income	$59,153	$67,132
Median home value	$184,500	$270,700
Median gross rent	$789	$810
Housing units	16,873	24,783
Homeownership rate	86.4%	83.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.3%	30.5%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Adams County	Vilas County
Population	20,094 → 20,928 (+4.2%)	21,751 → 23,410 (+7.6%)
Median household income	$46,369 → $59,153 (+27.6%)	$47,072 → $67,132 (+42.6%)
Median home value	$131,100 → $184,500 (+40.7%)	$202,900 → $270,700 (+33.4%)
Median gross rent	$639 → $789 (+23.5%)	$699 → $810 (+15.9%)

Adams County

Population

20,09420,928

Median household income

$46,369$59,153

Median home value

$131,100$184,500

Median gross rent

$639$789

Vilas County

Population

21,75123,410

Median household income

$47,072$67,132

Median home value

$202,900$270,700

Median gross rent

$699$810

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Adams County	Vilas County
Under 5	3.0%	4.0%
5 to 17	10.8%	12.5%
18 to 24	5.3%	4.8%
25 to 34	8.5%	7.9%
35 to 44	10.3%	8.8%
45 to 54	11.5%	10.7%
55 to 64	19.1%	20.0%
65 to 74	19.5%	19.1%
75 and over	12.0%	12.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Adams County	Vilas County
White (non-Hispanic)	88.3%	85.2%
Black or African American	2.2%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	8.2%
Asian	0.6%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.6%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	4.3%	2.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Adams County	Vilas County
No high school diploma	11.0%	3.9%
High school graduate	39.8%	31.1%
Some college or associate's	31.9%	34.5%
Bachelor's degree	12.5%	19.7%
Graduate or professional degree	4.7%	10.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Adams County	Vilas County
Drove alone	79.1%	77.7%
Carpooled	8.9%	6.0%
Public transit	0.2%	0.2%
Walked	1.3%	3.8%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.5%
Worked from home	9.3%	10.8%
Other means	1.2%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Adams County	Vilas County
1-unit, detached	73.7%	87.5%
1-unit, attached	1.2%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	1.5%	2.3%
5 to 19 units	3.4%	2.2%
20 or more units	0.6%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	19.5%	5.9%

Poverty & households

	Adams County	Vilas County
Poverty rate	13.8%	10.9%
Average household size	2.16	2.13
Mean commute (minutes)	29	20
Median year structure built	1983	1980