County Milwaukee County, Wisconsin - Population, Income & Demographics

The median income of households in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin was $62,118. An estimated 6.4% of households had income below $10,000 a year and 6.9% had income of $200,000 or more.

An estimated 77.1% of households received earnings. An estimated 27.3% of households received Social Security and an estimated 19.9 % of households received retirement income other than Social Security. The average income from Social Security was $22,276. These income sources are not mutually exclusive; that is, some households received income from more than one source.

In 2019-2023, 17.5 % of people were in poverty. An estimated 24% of children under 18 were below the poverty level, compared with 13.7% of people 65 years old and over. An estimated 15.8% of people 18 to 64 years were below the poverty level.

In 2019-2023, 20.2 % of households received SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). An estimated 45% of households that received SNAP had children under 18, and 31.3% of households that received SNAP had one or more people 60 years and over. An estimated 36.4% of all households receiving SNAP were families with a female householder and no spouse present.

Among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin in 2019-2023, 92.9% had health insurance coverage and 7.1% did not have health insurance coverage. Private coverage was 62.1% and public coverage was 40.7%, respectively. The percentage of children under the age of 19 with no health insurance coverage was 3.2%.

In 2019-2023, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin had a total population of 927,656 - 476,907 (51.4%) females and 450,749 (48.6%) males. The median age was 35.4 years. An estimated 23.9% of the population was under 18 years, 36.1% was 19 to 44 years, 22.9% was 45 to 64 years, and 14.4 % was 65 years and older.

In 2019-2023, there were 389,046 households in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. The average household size was 2.33 people.

Married-couple households made up 33.1% of the households in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin while cohabiting couple households made up 8.6% of households. Female householders with no spouse or partner present were 34.7% of all households, while 23.6% of households had male householders with no spouse or partner present. Some households had one person, as 17.6% of households were male householders living alone, and 19.7% were female householders living alone, for a total of 37.3% of all households.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, 27.4% of all households had one or more people under the age of 18; 25.7% of all households had one or more people 65 years and over.

In 2019-2023, an estimated 90.4% of the people living in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin were U.S. natives. 68.2% of the Milwaukee County, Wisconsin population were living in the state where they were born.

Approximately 9.6% of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin residents in 2019-2023 were foreign-born. 44.4% of foreign-born were naturalized U.S. citizens and an estimated 67.8 % entered the country before the year 2010.

Foreign-born residents of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin come from different parts of the world. The bar graph below displays the percentage of foreign-born from each world region of birth in 2019-2023 for Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.

Among people at least five years old living in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin in 2019-2023, 18.2 % spoke a language other than English at home. Spanish was spoken by 11.8% of people at least five years old; 6.6% reported that they did not speak English "very well."

In 2019-2023, 86.7 % of the people at least one year old living in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin were living in the same house one year earlier.

In 2019-2023, 89.6 % of people 25 years and over had at least graduated from high school and 33.9% had a bachelor's degree or higher. An estimated 10.4% did not complete high school.

The total school enrollment in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin was 233,188 in 2019-2023. Nursery school enrollment was 7,916 and kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment was 167,028. College or graduate school enrollment was 58,244.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in 2019-2023, 12.6 % reported a disability. The likelihood of having a disability varied by age - from 4.5% of people under 18 years old, to 11.2% of people 18 to 64 years old, and to 32.2% of those 65 and over.

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, 61.7 % of the population 16 and over were employed; 35.2% were not currently in the labor force.

An estimated 84.7% of the people employed were private wage and salary workers; 11.3% were federal, state, or local government workers; and 3.8 % were self-employed in their own (not incorporated) business.

In 2019-2023, the civilian employed population 16 years and older in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin worked in the following industries:

An estimated 70.8% of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin workers drove to work alone in 2019-2023, and 8.4% carpooled. Among those who commuted to work, it took them on average 22.3 minutes to get to work.

In 2019-2023, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin had a total of 423,838 housing units. Of these housing units, 49.7% were single-family houses either not attached to any other structure or attached to one or more structures (commonly referred to as "townhouses" or "row houses"). 49.8% of the housing units were located in multi-unit structures, or those buildings that contained two or more apartments. 0.5% were mobile homes, while any remaining housing units were classified as "other," which included boats, recreational vehicles, vans, etc.

4.4% of the housing inventory was comprised of houses built since 2010, while 28.3% of the houses were first built in 1939 or earlier. The median number of rooms in all housing units in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin was 5 rooms, and of these housing units 48.5% had three or more bedrooms.

In 2019-2023, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin had 389,046 housing units that were occupied or had people living in them, while the remaining 34,792 were vacant. Of the occupied housing units, the percentage of these houses occupied by owners (also known as the homeownership rate) was 49.8% while renters occupied 50.2%. The average household size of owner-occupied houses was 2.52 and in renter-occupied houses it was 2.15.

11.2% of householders of these occupied houses had moved into their house since 2021, while 9.9% moved into their house in 1989 or earlier. Households without a vehicle available for personal use comprised 12.5% and another 11.4% had three or more vehicles available for use.

The following chart provides the primary fuel used to heat houses in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin:

In 2019-2023, the median property value for owner-occupied houses in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin was $216,500.

Of the owner-occupied households, 65 % had a mortgage. 35% owned their houses "free and clear," that is without a primary mortgage or loan on the house. The median monthly housing costs for owners with a mortgage was $1,658 and for owners without a mortgage it was $721.

For renter-occupied houses, the median gross rent for Milwaukee County, Wisconsin was $1,069. Gross rent includes the monthly contract rent and any monthly payments made for electricity, gas, water and sewer, and any other fuels to heat the house.