Manitowoc County vs Portage County

A side-by-side comparison of Manitowoc County and Portage County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Manitowoc County has the higher population (81,314 vs 70,375 in Portage County). Portage County has the higher median household income ($73,284 vs $68,611 in Manitowoc County). Portage County has the higher median home value ($230,400 vs $172,900 in Manitowoc County).

Population, income & housing

	Manitowoc County	Portage County
Population	81,314	70,375
Median age	45.0 yrs	38.1 yrs
Median household income	$68,611	$73,284
Median home value	$172,900	$230,400
Median gross rent	$777	$903
Housing units	37,960	31,496
Homeownership rate	76.3%	69.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.2%	33.7%
Unemployment rate	2.1%	3.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Manitowoc County	Portage County
Population	79,185 → 81,314 (+2.7%)	70,632 → 70,375 (-0.4%)
Median household income	$56,612 → $68,611 (+21.2%)	$58,853 → $73,284 (+24.5%)
Median home value	$130,100 → $172,900 (+32.9%)	$168,100 → $230,400 (+37.1%)
Median gross rent	$672 → $777 (+15.6%)	$776 → $903 (+16.4%)

Manitowoc County

Population

79,18581,314

Median household income

$56,612$68,611

Median home value

$130,100$172,900

Median gross rent

$672$777

Portage County

Population

70,63270,375

Median household income

$58,853$73,284

Median home value

$168,100$230,400

Median gross rent

$776$903

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Manitowoc County	Portage County
Under 5	5.0%	4.6%
5 to 17	15.5%	14.4%
18 to 24	7.1%	15.5%
25 to 34	10.6%	11.9%
35 to 44	11.7%	11.4%
45 to 54	12.0%	11.0%
55 to 64	16.3%	13.3%
65 to 74	12.9%	10.9%
75 and over	8.9%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Manitowoc County	Portage County
White (non-Hispanic)	88.1%	89.5%
Black or African American	0.8%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.2%
Asian	2.5%	2.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.9%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	5.2%	3.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Manitowoc County	Portage County
No high school diploma	7.7%	5.2%
High school graduate	37.4%	31.1%
Some college or associate's	32.7%	30.0%
Bachelor's degree	15.7%	23.6%
Graduate or professional degree	6.5%	10.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Manitowoc County	Portage County
Drove alone	81.1%	74.1%
Carpooled	6.7%	8.3%
Public transit	0.5%	0.4%
Walked	3.4%	4.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.9%
Worked from home	7.3%	11.5%
Other means	0.7%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Manitowoc County	Portage County
1-unit, detached	72.8%	68.7%
1-unit, attached	2.4%	3.4%
2 to 4 units	11.2%	9.4%
5 to 19 units	6.5%	10.7%
20 or more units	3.7%	3.6%
Mobile home & other	3.4%	4.1%

Poverty & households

	Manitowoc County	Portage County
Poverty rate	9.8%	10.2%
Average household size	2.28	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	20	19
Median year structure built	1963	1979