Brown County vs Waukesha County

A side-by-side comparison of Brown County and Waukesha County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Waukesha County has the higher population (409,040 vs 269,425 in Brown County). Waukesha County has the higher median household income ($104,100 vs $77,490 in Brown County). Waukesha County has the higher median home value ($373,600 vs $245,900 in Brown County).

Population, income & housing

	Brown County	Waukesha County
Population	269,425	409,040
Median age	37.9 yrs	43.3 yrs
Median household income	$77,490	$104,100
Median home value	$245,900	$373,600
Median gross rent	$973	$1,300
Housing units	114,123	173,567
Homeownership rate	64.6%	76.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.4%	47.9%
Unemployment rate	2.8%	2.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Brown County	Waukesha County
Population	261,368 → 269,425 (+3.1%)	400,475 → 409,040 (+2.1%)
Median household income	$62,340 → $77,490 (+24.3%)	$87,277 → $104,100 (+19.3%)
Median home value	$173,900 → $245,900 (+41.4%)	$282,300 → $373,600 (+32.3%)
Median gross rent	$795 → $973 (+22.4%)	$1,046 → $1,300 (+24.3%)

Brown County

Population

261,368269,425

Median household income

$62,340$77,490

Median home value

$173,900$245,900

Median gross rent

$795$973

Waukesha County

Population

400,475409,040

Median household income

$87,277$104,100

Median home value

$282,300$373,600

Median gross rent

$1,046$1,300

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Brown County	Waukesha County
Under 5	5.9%	5.1%
5 to 17	17.4%	16.1%
18 to 24	9.2%	7.4%
25 to 34	13.3%	10.4%
35 to 44	13.1%	13.0%
45 to 54	12.0%	12.8%
55 to 64	13.2%	15.2%
65 to 74	9.8%	11.7%
75 and over	6.1%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Brown County	Waukesha County
White (non-Hispanic)	78.1%	85.7%
Black or African American	2.5%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.6%	0.1%
Asian	3.2%	3.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.2%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	10.0%	5.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Brown County	Waukesha County
No high school diploma	6.7%	2.9%
High school graduate	29.2%	20.6%
Some college or associate's	31.6%	28.6%
Bachelor's degree	22.7%	31.7%
Graduate or professional degree	9.7%	16.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Brown County	Waukesha County
Drove alone	78.5%	77.5%
Carpooled	7.9%	5.1%
Public transit	0.5%	0.2%
Walked	1.7%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	10.4%	15.3%
Other means	0.9%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Brown County	Waukesha County
1-unit, detached	63.7%	69.4%
1-unit, attached	6.6%	6.2%
2 to 4 units	8.2%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	13.2%	8.6%
20 or more units	7.0%	10.1%
Mobile home & other	1.3%	0.6%

Poverty & households

	Brown County	Waukesha County
Poverty rate	9.8%	5.2%
Average household size	2.38	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	19	23
Median year structure built	1980	1981