Ashland County vs Buffalo County

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

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

Ashland County has the higher population (16,050 vs 13,341 in Buffalo County). Buffalo County has the higher median household income ($68,722 vs $57,645 in Ashland County). Buffalo County has the higher median home value ($197,600 vs $160,500 in Ashland County).

Population, income & housing

	Ashland County	Buffalo County
Population	16,050	13,341
Median age	43.1 yrs	46.4 yrs
Median household income	$57,645	$68,722
Median home value	$160,500	$197,600
Median gross rent	$665	$822
Housing units	9,402	6,546
Homeownership rate	72.4%	78.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.1%	22.1%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	2.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ashland County	Buffalo County
Population	15,617 → 16,050 (+2.8%)	13,126 → 13,341 (+1.6%)
Median household income	$42,510 → $57,645 (+35.6%)	$57,829 → $68,722 (+18.8%)
Median home value	$113,100 → $160,500 (+41.9%)	$159,700 → $197,600 (+23.7%)
Median gross rent	$631 → $665 (+5.4%)	$765 → $822 (+7.5%)

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

Buffalo County

Population

13,12613,341

Median household income

$57,829$68,722

Median home value

$159,700$197,600

Median gross rent

$765$822

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ashland County	Buffalo County
Under 5	5.1%	4.8%
5 to 17	16.0%	15.3%
18 to 24	9.2%	6.7%
25 to 34	10.5%	9.8%
35 to 44	11.3%	11.8%
45 to 54	10.9%	12.0%
55 to 64	15.9%	16.2%
65 to 74	13.1%	13.7%
75 and over	8.0%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ashland County	Buffalo County
White (non-Hispanic)	81.9%	94.2%
Black or African American	0.8%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	9.2%	0.1%
Asian	0.7%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.5%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	2.9%	2.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ashland County	Buffalo County
No high school diploma	4.8%	8.0%
High school graduate	35.7%	38.1%
Some college or associate's	37.4%	31.8%
Bachelor's degree	14.6%	16.0%
Graduate or professional degree	7.5%	6.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ashland County	Buffalo County
Drove alone	73.6%	79.5%
Carpooled	8.0%	5.5%
Public transit	1.7%	0.1%
Walked	6.3%	4.0%
Bicycle	1.0%	0.5%
Worked from home	8.5%	9.4%
Other means	1.0%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ashland County	Buffalo County
1-unit, detached	76.0%	81.8%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	2.0%
2 to 4 units	7.7%	5.5%
5 to 19 units	5.2%	3.5%
20 or more units	2.4%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	7.0%	5.7%

Poverty & households

	Ashland County	Buffalo County
Poverty rate	16.4%	8.7%
Average household size	2.25	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	17	25
Median year structure built	1972	1970