Lafayette County vs Richland County

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

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

Richland County has the higher population (17,229 vs 16,788 in Lafayette County). Lafayette County has the higher median household income ($72,091 vs $62,649 in Richland County). Richland County has the higher median home value ($182,800 vs $182,100 in Lafayette County).

Population, income & housing

	Lafayette County	Richland County
Population	16,788	17,229
Median age	40.9 yrs	46.4 yrs
Median household income	$72,091	$62,649
Median home value	$182,100	$182,800
Median gross rent	$835	$786
Housing units	7,193	8,542
Homeownership rate	79.3%	76.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.6%	20.7%
Unemployment rate	2.5%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lafayette County	Richland County
Population	16,715 → 16,788 (+0.4%)	17,459 → 17,229 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$60,691 → $72,091 (+18.8%)	$51,947 → $62,649 (+20.6%)
Median home value	$140,000 → $182,100 (+30.1%)	$139,900 → $182,800 (+30.7%)
Median gross rent	$713 → $835 (+17.1%)	$642 → $786 (+22.4%)

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

Richland County

Population

17,45917,229

Median household income

$51,947$62,649

Median home value

$139,900$182,800

Median gross rent

$642$786

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lafayette County	Richland County
Under 5	6.8%	4.9%
5 to 17	18.0%	16.4%
18 to 24	7.6%	7.2%
25 to 34	10.7%	9.5%
35 to 44	11.2%	10.7%
45 to 54	11.3%	11.8%
55 to 64	14.6%	15.1%
65 to 74	11.6%	14.2%
75 and over	8.1%	10.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lafayette County	Richland County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.7%	92.5%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.6%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.6%
Two or more races	1.3%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	6.5%	3.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lafayette County	Richland County
No high school diploma	9.0%	7.9%
High school graduate	39.2%	42.1%
Some college or associate's	31.1%	29.3%
Bachelor's degree	14.6%	14.6%
Graduate or professional degree	6.1%	6.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lafayette County	Richland County
Drove alone	74.9%	78.7%
Carpooled	7.3%	8.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.2%
Walked	4.0%	2.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	12.3%	8.2%
Other means	1.5%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lafayette County	Richland County
1-unit, detached	84.5%	81.0%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	7.3%
5 to 19 units	4.1%	3.8%
20 or more units	0.4%	2.5%
Mobile home & other	4.6%	4.8%

Poverty & households

	Lafayette County	Richland County
Poverty rate	10.7%	14.5%
Average household size	2.49	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	25	24
Median year structure built	1964	1970