Dane County vs Waukesha County

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

Dane 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.

Dane County has the higher population (564,777 vs 409,040 in Waukesha County). Waukesha County has the higher median household income ($104,100 vs $88,108 in Dane County). Waukesha County has the higher median home value ($373,600 vs $366,100 in Dane County).

Population, income & housing

	Dane County	Waukesha County
Population	564,777	409,040
Median age	35.6 yrs	43.3 yrs
Median household income	$88,108	$104,100
Median home value	$366,100	$373,600
Median gross rent	$1,345	$1,300
Housing units	254,880	173,567
Homeownership rate	57.7%	76.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	54.4%	47.9%
Unemployment rate	2.4%	2.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dane County	Waukesha County
Population	536,078 → 564,777 (+5.4%)	400,475 → 409,040 (+2.1%)
Median household income	$73,893 → $88,108 (+19.2%)	$87,277 → $104,100 (+19.3%)
Median home value	$265,600 → $366,100 (+37.8%)	$282,300 → $373,600 (+32.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,083 → $1,345 (+24.2%)	$1,046 → $1,300 (+24.3%)

Dane County

Population

536,078564,777

Median household income

$73,893$88,108

Median home value

$265,600$366,100

Median gross rent

$1,083$1,345

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)

	Dane County	Waukesha County
Under 5	5.2%	5.1%
5 to 17	14.8%	16.1%
18 to 24	13.5%	7.4%
25 to 34	15.4%	10.4%
35 to 44	13.9%	13.0%
45 to 54	11.3%	12.8%
55 to 64	11.2%	15.2%
65 to 74	9.1%	11.7%
75 and over	5.6%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dane County	Waukesha County
White (non-Hispanic)	76.7%	85.7%
Black or African American	5.1%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	5.9%	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	7.6%	5.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dane County	Waukesha County
No high school diploma	3.7%	2.9%
High school graduate	17.4%	20.6%
Some college or associate's	24.4%	28.6%
Bachelor's degree	32.6%	31.7%
Graduate or professional degree	21.9%	16.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dane County	Waukesha County
Drove alone	65.2%	77.5%
Carpooled	5.8%	5.1%
Public transit	3.1%	0.2%
Walked	5.2%	1.1%
Bicycle	1.9%	0.1%
Worked from home	17.8%	15.3%
Other means	1.1%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dane County	Waukesha County
1-unit, detached	51.0%	69.4%
1-unit, attached	6.6%	6.2%
2 to 4 units	9.1%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	11.6%	8.6%
20 or more units	21.0%	10.1%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	0.6%

Poverty & households

	Dane County	Waukesha County
Poverty rate	10.5%	5.2%
Average household size	2.24	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	21	23
Median year structure built	1985	1981