Lafayette County vs Sawyer County

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

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

Sawyer County has the higher population (18,243 vs 16,788 in Lafayette County). Lafayette County has the higher median household income ($72,091 vs $59,055 in Sawyer County). Sawyer County has the higher median home value ($223,300 vs $182,100 in Lafayette County).

Population, income & housing

	Lafayette County	Sawyer County
Population	16,788	18,243
Median age	40.9 yrs	52.2 yrs
Median household income	$72,091	$59,055
Median home value	$182,100	$223,300
Median gross rent	$835	$683
Housing units	7,193	16,114
Homeownership rate	79.3%	77.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.6%	27.2%
Unemployment rate	2.5%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lafayette County	Sawyer County
Population	16,715 → 16,788 (+0.4%)	16,399 → 18,243 (+11.2%)
Median household income	$60,691 → $72,091 (+18.8%)	$47,714 → $59,055 (+23.8%)
Median home value	$140,000 → $182,100 (+30.1%)	$168,400 → $223,300 (+32.6%)
Median gross rent	$713 → $835 (+17.1%)	$682 → $683 (+0.1%)

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

Sawyer County

Population

16,39918,243

Median household income

$47,714$59,055

Median home value

$168,400$223,300

Median gross rent

$682$683

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lafayette County	Sawyer County
Under 5	6.8%	4.4%
5 to 17	18.0%	13.8%
18 to 24	7.6%	5.9%
25 to 34	10.7%	9.1%
35 to 44	11.2%	9.2%
45 to 54	11.3%	11.4%
55 to 64	14.6%	18.5%
65 to 74	11.6%	17.5%
75 and over	8.1%	10.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lafayette County	Sawyer County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.7%	77.1%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	14.2%
Asian	0.6%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.3%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	6.5%	2.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lafayette County	Sawyer County
No high school diploma	9.0%	7.1%
High school graduate	39.2%	32.5%
Some college or associate's	31.1%	33.1%
Bachelor's degree	14.6%	17.5%
Graduate or professional degree	6.1%	9.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lafayette County	Sawyer County
Drove alone	74.9%	70.4%
Carpooled	7.3%	12.9%
Public transit	0.0%	1.4%
Walked	4.0%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	12.3%	11.2%
Other means	1.5%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lafayette County	Sawyer County
1-unit, detached	84.5%	87.0%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	3.2%
5 to 19 units	4.1%	2.0%
20 or more units	0.4%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	4.6%	5.0%

Poverty & households

	Lafayette County	Sawyer County
Poverty rate	10.7%	15.0%
Average household size	2.49	2.09
Mean commute (minutes)	25	21
Median year structure built	1964	1985