Barron County vs Polk County

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

Barron County and Polk 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 45,327 in Polk County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($76,208 vs $64,619 in Barron County). Polk County has the higher median home value ($241,200 vs $198,300 in Barron County).

Population, income & housing

	Barron County	Polk County
Population	46,741	45,327
Median age	44.8 yrs	46.5 yrs
Median household income	$64,619	$76,208
Median home value	$198,300	$241,200
Median gross rent	$859	$958
Housing units	23,966	24,377
Homeownership rate	76.8%	81.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.3%	23.7%
Unemployment rate	3.1%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Barron County	Polk County
Population	45,229 → 46,741 (+3.3%)	43,438 → 45,327 (+4.3%)
Median household income	$52,703 → $64,619 (+22.6%)	$59,994 → $76,208 (+27.0%)
Median home value	$153,200 → $198,300 (+29.4%)	$169,700 → $241,200 (+42.1%)
Median gross rent	$705 → $859 (+21.8%)	$756 → $958 (+26.7%)

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

Polk County

Population

43,43845,327

Median household income

$59,994$76,208

Median home value

$169,700$241,200

Median gross rent

$756$958

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Barron County	Polk County
Under 5	5.2%	4.6%
5 to 17	16.1%	15.6%
18 to 24	7.3%	6.5%
25 to 34	10.2%	10.0%
35 to 44	11.4%	11.8%
45 to 54	11.4%	12.6%
55 to 64	15.3%	17.0%
65 to 74	13.3%	13.5%
75 and over	9.8%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Barron County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.2%	93.5%
Black or African American	1.4%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.4%
Asian	0.5%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.1%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	3.0%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Barron County	Polk County
No high school diploma	8.3%	6.4%
High school graduate	35.0%	34.0%
Some college or associate's	34.5%	35.9%
Bachelor's degree	14.8%	16.9%
Graduate or professional degree	7.5%	6.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Barron County	Polk County
Drove alone	75.7%	79.0%
Carpooled	11.6%	7.4%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	3.5%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.2%
Worked from home	8.2%	10.4%
Other means	0.9%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Barron County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	79.4%	81.7%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	2.3%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	4.0%
5 to 19 units	4.2%	3.2%
20 or more units	2.7%	2.2%
Mobile home & other	5.4%	6.6%

Poverty & households

	Barron County	Polk County
Poverty rate	9.9%	8.3%
Average household size	2.35	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	21	30
Median year structure built	1976	1980