Monroe County vs Polk County

A side-by-side comparison of Monroe County and Polk County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Monroe County has the higher population (46,169 vs 45,327 in Polk County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($76,208 vs $68,213 in Monroe County). Polk County has the higher median home value ($241,200 vs $197,200 in Monroe County).

Population, income & housing

	Monroe County	Polk County
Population	46,169	45,327
Median age	39.6 yrs	46.5 yrs
Median household income	$68,213	$76,208
Median home value	$197,200	$241,200
Median gross rent	$920	$958
Housing units	19,918	24,377
Homeownership rate	72.4%	81.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.0%	23.7%
Unemployment rate	2.8%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Monroe County	Polk County
Population	45,771 → 46,169 (+0.9%)	43,438 → 45,327 (+4.3%)
Median household income	$59,587 → $68,213 (+14.5%)	$59,994 → $76,208 (+27.0%)
Median home value	$155,000 → $197,200 (+27.2%)	$169,700 → $241,200 (+42.1%)
Median gross rent	$815 → $920 (+12.9%)	$756 → $958 (+26.7%)

Monroe County

Population

45,77146,169

Median household income

$59,587$68,213

Median home value

$155,000$197,200

Median gross rent

$815$920

Polk County

Population

43,43845,327

Median household income

$59,994$76,208

Median home value

$169,700$241,200

Median gross rent

$756$958

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Monroe County	Polk County
Under 5	6.3%	4.6%
5 to 17	19.2%	15.6%
18 to 24	7.0%	6.5%
25 to 34	11.4%	10.0%
35 to 44	12.7%	11.8%
45 to 54	11.6%	12.6%
55 to 64	14.2%	17.0%
65 to 74	10.7%	13.5%
75 and over	6.9%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Monroe County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	88.5%	93.5%
Black or African American	1.4%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.7%	0.4%
Asian	0.6%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.2%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	5.6%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Monroe County	Polk County
No high school diploma	9.2%	6.4%
High school graduate	36.3%	34.0%
Some college or associate's	34.6%	35.9%
Bachelor's degree	14.0%	16.9%
Graduate or professional degree	6.0%	6.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Monroe County	Polk County
Drove alone	78.1%	79.0%
Carpooled	8.5%	7.4%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	2.6%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.2%
Worked from home	8.3%	10.4%
Other means	2.1%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Monroe County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	72.6%	81.7%
1-unit, attached	3.5%	2.3%
2 to 4 units	7.1%	4.0%
5 to 19 units	6.2%	3.2%
20 or more units	2.3%	2.2%
Mobile home & other	8.3%	6.6%

Poverty & households

	Monroe County	Polk County
Poverty rate	11.8%	8.3%
Average household size	2.48	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	20	30
Median year structure built	1980	1980