Richland County vs Sawyer County

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

Richland 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 17,229 in Richland County). Richland County has the higher median household income ($62,649 vs $59,055 in Sawyer County). Sawyer County has the higher median home value ($223,300 vs $182,800 in Richland County).

Population, income & housing

	Richland County	Sawyer County
Population	17,229	18,243
Median age	46.4 yrs	52.2 yrs
Median household income	$62,649	$59,055
Median home value	$182,800	$223,300
Median gross rent	$786	$683
Housing units	8,542	16,114
Homeownership rate	76.5%	77.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.7%	27.2%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Richland County	Sawyer County
Population	17,459 → 17,229 (-1.3%)	16,399 → 18,243 (+11.2%)
Median household income	$51,947 → $62,649 (+20.6%)	$47,714 → $59,055 (+23.8%)
Median home value	$139,900 → $182,800 (+30.7%)	$168,400 → $223,300 (+32.6%)
Median gross rent	$642 → $786 (+22.4%)	$682 → $683 (+0.1%)

Richland County

Population

17,45917,229

Median household income

$51,947$62,649

Median home value

$139,900$182,800

Median gross rent

$642$786

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)

	Richland County	Sawyer County
Under 5	4.9%	4.4%
5 to 17	16.4%	13.8%
18 to 24	7.2%	5.9%
25 to 34	9.5%	9.1%
35 to 44	10.7%	9.2%
45 to 54	11.8%	11.4%
55 to 64	15.1%	18.5%
65 to 74	14.2%	17.5%
75 and over	10.1%	10.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Richland County	Sawyer County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.5%	77.1%
Black or African American	0.9%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	14.2%
Asian	0.9%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.9%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	3.1%	2.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Richland County	Sawyer County
No high school diploma	7.9%	7.1%
High school graduate	42.1%	32.5%
Some college or associate's	29.3%	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)

	Richland County	Sawyer County
Drove alone	78.7%	70.4%
Carpooled	8.8%	12.9%
Public transit	0.2%	1.4%
Walked	2.7%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	8.2%	11.2%
Other means	1.4%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Richland County	Sawyer County
1-unit, detached	81.0%	87.0%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	7.3%	3.2%
5 to 19 units	3.8%	2.0%
20 or more units	2.5%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	4.8%	5.0%

Poverty & households

	Richland County	Sawyer County
Poverty rate	14.5%	15.0%
Average household size	2.37	2.09
Mean commute (minutes)	24	21
Median year structure built	1970	1985