Marathon County vs Washington County

A side-by-side comparison of Marathon County and Washington County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Marathon County has the higher population (138,067 vs 137,320 in Washington County). Washington County has the higher median household income ($95,851 vs $76,185 in Marathon County). Washington County has the higher median home value ($316,200 vs $205,500 in Marathon County).

Population, income & housing

	Marathon County	Washington County
Population	138,067	137,320
Median age	41.2 yrs	43.5 yrs
Median household income	$76,185	$95,851
Median home value	$205,500	$316,200
Median gross rent	$950	$1,126
Housing units	60,296	58,766
Homeownership rate	73.4%	78.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.3%	34.8%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Marathon County	Washington County
Population	135,396 → 138,067 (+2.0%)	134,925 → 137,320 (+1.8%)
Median household income	$62,633 → $76,185 (+21.6%)	$77,663 → $95,851 (+23.4%)
Median home value	$156,300 → $205,500 (+31.5%)	$236,200 → $316,200 (+33.9%)
Median gross rent	$758 → $950 (+25.3%)	$908 → $1,126 (+24.0%)

Marathon County

Population

135,396138,067

Median household income

$62,633$76,185

Median home value

$156,300$205,500

Median gross rent

$758$950

Washington County

Population

134,925137,320

Median household income

$77,663$95,851

Median home value

$236,200$316,200

Median gross rent

$908$1,126

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Marathon County	Washington County
Under 5	5.6%	4.9%
5 to 17	17.0%	16.4%
18 to 24	7.4%	7.2%
25 to 34	11.9%	10.4%
35 to 44	12.8%	12.8%
45 to 54	12.2%	13.2%
55 to 64	14.3%	15.9%
65 to 74	10.9%	11.6%
75 and over	7.7%	7.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Marathon County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	86.8%	90.8%
Black or African American	0.5%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	5.5%	1.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.5%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	3.4%	3.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Marathon County	Washington County
No high school diploma	6.9%	4.4%
High school graduate	32.9%	28.5%
Some college or associate's	32.9%	32.3%
Bachelor's degree	19.0%	24.1%
Graduate or professional degree	8.3%	10.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Marathon County	Washington County
Drove alone	76.5%	79.4%
Carpooled	8.4%	6.0%
Public transit	0.3%	0.2%
Walked	1.9%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.2%
Worked from home	11.7%	12.4%
Other means	1.0%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Marathon County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	75.4%	68.9%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	8.3%
2 to 4 units	5.9%	7.1%
5 to 19 units	8.6%	9.0%
20 or more units	4.8%	5.5%
Mobile home & other	2.6%	1.2%

Poverty & households

	Marathon County	Washington County
Poverty rate	8.9%	5.3%
Average household size	2.40	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	19	26
Median year structure built	1977	1984