Racine County vs Waukesha County

A side-by-side comparison of Racine County and Waukesha County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Waukesha County has the higher population (409,040 vs 196,888 in Racine County). Waukesha County has the higher median household income ($104,100 vs $75,331 in Racine County). Waukesha County has the higher median home value ($373,600 vs $239,400 in Racine County).

Population, income & housing

	Racine County	Waukesha County
Population	196,888	409,040
Median age	40.5 yrs	43.3 yrs
Median household income	$75,331	$104,100
Median home value	$239,400	$373,600
Median gross rent	$1,017	$1,300
Housing units	84,558	173,567
Homeownership rate	71.1%	76.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.0%	47.9%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	2.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Racine County	Waukesha County
Population	195,602 → 196,888 (+0.7%)	400,475 → 409,040 (+2.1%)
Median household income	$61,336 → $75,331 (+22.8%)	$87,277 → $104,100 (+19.3%)
Median home value	$176,000 → $239,400 (+36.0%)	$282,300 → $373,600 (+32.3%)
Median gross rent	$857 → $1,017 (+18.7%)	$1,046 → $1,300 (+24.3%)

Racine County

Population

195,602196,888

Median household income

$61,336$75,331

Median home value

$176,000$239,400

Median gross rent

$857$1,017

Waukesha County

Population

400,475409,040

Median household income

$87,277$104,100

Median home value

$282,300$373,600

Median gross rent

$1,046$1,300

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Racine County	Waukesha County
Under 5	5.7%	5.1%
5 to 17	17.2%	16.1%
18 to 24	8.1%	7.4%
25 to 34	11.9%	10.4%
35 to 44	12.3%	13.0%
45 to 54	12.4%	12.8%
55 to 64	14.6%	15.2%
65 to 74	10.7%	11.7%
75 and over	6.9%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Racine County	Waukesha County
White (non-Hispanic)	69.5%	85.7%
Black or African American	10.4%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	1.2%	3.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.6%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	14.6%	5.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Racine County	Waukesha County
No high school diploma	8.4%	2.9%
High school graduate	29.9%	20.6%
Some college or associate's	33.7%	28.6%
Bachelor's degree	18.8%	31.7%
Graduate or professional degree	9.2%	16.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Racine County	Waukesha County
Drove alone	78.4%	77.5%
Carpooled	8.6%	5.1%
Public transit	0.9%	0.2%
Walked	1.0%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	8.9%	15.3%
Other means	2.0%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Racine County	Waukesha County
1-unit, detached	70.2%	69.4%
1-unit, attached	4.6%	6.2%
2 to 4 units	10.0%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	7.4%	8.6%
20 or more units	6.8%	10.1%
Mobile home & other	1.1%	0.6%

Poverty & households

	Racine County	Waukesha County
Poverty rate	10.8%	5.2%
Average household size	2.43	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	24	23
Median year structure built	1968	1981