Florence County vs Forest County

A side-by-side comparison of Florence County and Forest County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Forest County has the higher population (9,261 vs 4,617 in Florence County). Florence County has the higher median household income ($62,786 vs $59,727 in Forest County). Both have a median home value of $170,000.

Population, income & housing

	Florence County	Forest County
Population	4,617	9,261
Median age	54.8 yrs	49.1 yrs
Median household income	$62,786	$59,727
Median home value	$170,000	$170,000
Median gross rent	$871	$585
Housing units	4,659	8,696
Homeownership rate	90.0%	82.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.1%	15.5%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Florence County	Forest County
Population	4,314 → 4,617 (+7.0%)	8,995 → 9,261 (+3.0%)
Median household income	$52,181 → $62,786 (+20.3%)	$45,536 → $59,727 (+31.2%)
Median home value	$129,600 → $170,000 (+31.2%)	$132,300 → $170,000 (+28.5%)
Median gross rent	$480 → $871 (+81.5%)	$506 → $585 (+15.6%)

Florence County

Population

4,3144,617

Median household income

$52,181$62,786

Median home value

$129,600$170,000

Median gross rent

$480$871

Forest County

Population

8,9959,261

Median household income

$45,536$59,727

Median home value

$132,300$170,000

Median gross rent

$506$585

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Florence County	Forest County
Under 5	3.8%	5.2%
5 to 17	12.0%	13.9%
18 to 24	4.8%	6.8%
25 to 34	7.7%	9.9%
35 to 44	10.4%	10.1%
45 to 54	11.7%	11.7%
55 to 64	21.4%	17.4%
65 to 74	17.2%	15.4%
75 and over	11.2%	9.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Florence County	Forest County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.4%	77.9%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	11.4%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	1.5%
Two or more races	3.1%	6.7%
Hispanic or Latino	0.6%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Florence County	Forest County
No high school diploma	8.5%	9.3%
High school graduate	34.5%	37.9%
Some college or associate's	33.9%	37.3%
Bachelor's degree	17.6%	11.9%
Graduate or professional degree	5.6%	3.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Florence County	Forest County
Drove alone	84.2%	79.2%
Carpooled	4.2%	9.6%
Public transit	0.2%	0.5%
Walked	1.5%	3.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	9.9%	6.5%
Other means	0.0%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Florence County	Forest County
1-unit, detached	87.1%	85.9%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.4%
2 to 4 units	1.1%	1.1%
5 to 19 units	0.5%	2.8%
20 or more units	1.9%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	9.1%	9.7%

Poverty & households

	Florence County	Forest County
Poverty rate	8.5%	15.0%
Average household size	2.16	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	21	26
Median year structure built	1979	1980