Barron County vs Monroe County

A side-by-side comparison of Barron County and Monroe County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Barron County has the higher population (46,741 vs 46,169 in Monroe County). Monroe County has the higher median household income ($68,213 vs $64,619 in Barron County). Barron County has the higher median home value ($198,300 vs $197,200 in Monroe County).

Population, income & housing

	Barron County	Monroe County
Population	46,741	46,169
Median age	44.8 yrs	39.6 yrs
Median household income	$64,619	$68,213
Median home value	$198,300	$197,200
Median gross rent	$859	$920
Housing units	23,966	19,918
Homeownership rate	76.8%	72.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.3%	20.0%
Unemployment rate	3.1%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Barron County	Monroe County
Population	45,229 → 46,741 (+3.3%)	45,771 → 46,169 (+0.9%)
Median household income	$52,703 → $64,619 (+22.6%)	$59,587 → $68,213 (+14.5%)
Median home value	$153,200 → $198,300 (+29.4%)	$155,000 → $197,200 (+27.2%)
Median gross rent	$705 → $859 (+21.8%)	$815 → $920 (+12.9%)

Barron County

Population

45,22946,741

Median household income

$52,703$64,619

Median home value

$153,200$198,300

Median gross rent

$705$859

Monroe County

Population

45,77146,169

Median household income

$59,587$68,213

Median home value

$155,000$197,200

Median gross rent

$815$920

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Barron County	Monroe County
Under 5	5.2%	6.3%
5 to 17	16.1%	19.2%
18 to 24	7.3%	7.0%
25 to 34	10.2%	11.4%
35 to 44	11.4%	12.7%
45 to 54	11.4%	11.6%
55 to 64	15.3%	14.2%
65 to 74	13.3%	10.7%
75 and over	9.8%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Barron County	Monroe County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.2%	88.5%
Black or African American	1.4%	1.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.7%
Asian	0.5%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.1%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	3.0%	5.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Barron County	Monroe County
No high school diploma	8.3%	9.2%
High school graduate	35.0%	36.3%
Some college or associate's	34.5%	34.6%
Bachelor's degree	14.8%	14.0%
Graduate or professional degree	7.5%	6.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Barron County	Monroe County
Drove alone	75.7%	78.1%
Carpooled	11.6%	8.5%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	3.5%	2.6%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.4%
Worked from home	8.2%	8.3%
Other means	0.9%	2.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Barron County	Monroe County
1-unit, detached	79.4%	72.6%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	3.5%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	7.1%
5 to 19 units	4.2%	6.2%
20 or more units	2.7%	2.3%
Mobile home & other	5.4%	8.3%

Poverty & households

	Barron County	Monroe County
Poverty rate	9.9%	11.8%
Average household size	2.35	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	21	20
Median year structure built	1976	1980