Bayfield County vs Lafayette County

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

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

Lafayette County has the higher population (16,788 vs 16,410 in Bayfield County). Lafayette County has the higher median household income ($72,091 vs $69,609 in Bayfield County). Bayfield County has the higher median home value ($228,100 vs $182,100 in Lafayette County).

Population, income & housing

	Bayfield County	Lafayette County
Population	16,410	16,788
Median age	54.1 yrs	40.9 yrs
Median household income	$69,609	$72,091
Median home value	$228,100	$182,100
Median gross rent	$789	$835
Housing units	13,285	7,193
Homeownership rate	84.5%	79.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	35.0%	20.6%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bayfield County	Lafayette County
Population	14,993 → 16,410 (+9.5%)	16,715 → 16,788 (+0.4%)
Median household income	$56,096 → $69,609 (+24.1%)	$60,691 → $72,091 (+18.8%)
Median home value	$170,200 → $228,100 (+34.0%)	$140,000 → $182,100 (+30.1%)
Median gross rent	$653 → $789 (+20.8%)	$713 → $835 (+17.1%)

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

Lafayette County

Population

16,71516,788

Median household income

$60,691$72,091

Median home value

$140,000$182,100

Median gross rent

$713$835

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bayfield County	Lafayette County
Under 5	4.0%	6.8%
5 to 17	12.5%	18.0%
18 to 24	5.5%	7.6%
25 to 34	8.0%	10.7%
35 to 44	9.8%	11.2%
45 to 54	11.3%	11.3%
55 to 64	18.5%	14.6%
65 to 74	19.4%	11.6%
75 and over	10.9%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bayfield County	Lafayette County
White (non-Hispanic)	83.9%	90.7%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	7.6%	0.1%
Asian	0.5%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.3%
Two or more races	5.2%	1.3%
Hispanic or Latino	2.0%	6.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bayfield County	Lafayette County
No high school diploma	3.8%	9.0%
High school graduate	25.5%	39.2%
Some college or associate's	35.6%	31.1%
Bachelor's degree	21.8%	14.6%
Graduate or professional degree	13.2%	6.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bayfield County	Lafayette County
Drove alone	71.8%	74.9%
Carpooled	9.6%	7.3%
Public transit	1.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.4%	4.0%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	13.1%	12.3%
Other means	0.7%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bayfield County	Lafayette County
1-unit, detached	86.3%	84.5%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	2.7%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	2.8%	4.1%
20 or more units	0.5%	0.4%
Mobile home & other	6.0%	4.6%

Poverty & households

	Bayfield County	Lafayette County
Poverty rate	8.9%	10.7%
Average household size	2.18	2.49
Mean commute (minutes)	23	25
Median year structure built	1981	1964