Ashland County vs Bayfield County

A side-by-side comparison of Ashland County and Bayfield County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Bayfield County has the higher population (16,410 vs 16,050 in Ashland County). Bayfield County has the higher median household income ($69,609 vs $57,645 in Ashland County). Bayfield County has the higher median home value ($228,100 vs $160,500 in Ashland County).

Population, income & housing

	Ashland County	Bayfield County
Population	16,050	16,410
Median age	43.1 yrs	54.1 yrs
Median household income	$57,645	$69,609
Median home value	$160,500	$228,100
Median gross rent	$665	$789
Housing units	9,402	13,285
Homeownership rate	72.4%	84.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.1%	35.0%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ashland County	Bayfield County
Population	15,617 → 16,050 (+2.8%)	14,993 → 16,410 (+9.5%)
Median household income	$42,510 → $57,645 (+35.6%)	$56,096 → $69,609 (+24.1%)
Median home value	$113,100 → $160,500 (+41.9%)	$170,200 → $228,100 (+34.0%)
Median gross rent	$631 → $665 (+5.4%)	$653 → $789 (+20.8%)

Ashland County

Population

15,61716,050

Median household income

$42,510$57,645

Median home value

$113,100$160,500

Median gross rent

$631$665

Bayfield County

Population

14,99316,410

Median household income

$56,096$69,609

Median home value

$170,200$228,100

Median gross rent

$653$789

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ashland County	Bayfield County
Under 5	5.1%	4.0%
5 to 17	16.0%	12.5%
18 to 24	9.2%	5.5%
25 to 34	10.5%	8.0%
35 to 44	11.3%	9.8%
45 to 54	10.9%	11.3%
55 to 64	15.9%	18.5%
65 to 74	13.1%	19.4%
75 and over	8.0%	10.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ashland County	Bayfield County
White (non-Hispanic)	81.9%	83.9%
Black or African American	0.8%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	9.2%	7.6%
Asian	0.7%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.5%	5.2%
Hispanic or Latino	2.9%	2.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ashland County	Bayfield County
No high school diploma	4.8%	3.8%
High school graduate	35.7%	25.5%
Some college or associate's	37.4%	35.6%
Bachelor's degree	14.6%	21.8%
Graduate or professional degree	7.5%	13.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ashland County	Bayfield County
Drove alone	73.6%	71.8%
Carpooled	8.0%	9.6%
Public transit	1.7%	1.0%
Walked	6.3%	3.4%
Bicycle	1.0%	0.4%
Worked from home	8.5%	13.1%
Other means	1.0%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ashland County	Bayfield County
1-unit, detached	76.0%	86.3%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	1.6%
2 to 4 units	7.7%	2.7%
5 to 19 units	5.2%	2.8%
20 or more units	2.4%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	7.0%	6.0%

Poverty & households

	Ashland County	Bayfield County
Poverty rate	16.4%	8.9%
Average household size	2.25	2.18
Mean commute (minutes)	17	23
Median year structure built	1972	1981