Washburn County
Wisconsin · County seat: Shell Lake · Active county or equivalent
FIPS code 55129 is Washburn County, Wisconsin. With a population of 16,685 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #59 in Wisconsin and #2053 nationally. The state FIPS code for Wisconsin is 55. This code is used in Census Bureau, BLS, EPA, HUD, and USDA federal datasets to identify this county.
County FIPS
55129
Population
16,685
2022 ACS · #2053 nationally
Density
20.9/mi²
people per sq mile
Land Area
797
sq miles
Urban/Rural
Nonmetro — rural, adjacent to metro
RUCC 8
How This FIPS Code Works
The 5-digit FIPS code 55129 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 55 (Wisconsin) with the 3-digit county identifier 129. Together they uniquely identify Washburn County in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.
Census ACS Data for FIPS 55129
From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 55129.
Median Household Income
$58,504
ACS B19013_001E
Poverty Rate
12.4%
ACS B17001 (below poverty level)
Median Age
52.2
ACS B01002_001E
Adjacent Counties (6)
Counties that share a border with Washburn County. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 55129.
Federal Datasets Using Code 55129
FIPS code 55129 appears as the county identifier in the following federal datasets. Analysts joining data across these sources use this code as the common geographic key.
Using FIPS Code 55129 in Code
Common patterns for querying federal datasets by this county's FIPS code. The leading zeros are significant — always treat FIPS codes as strings, not integers.
import requests
url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5"
params = {
"get": "NAME,B19013_001E,B01003_001E",
"for": "county:129",
"in": "state:55",
"key": "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json() # [[header...], [Washburn County, Wisconsin, income, pop, ...]-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '55129';
-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '55'
AND county_fips = '129';
-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 55129 is WRONG for this countylibrary(tidycensus)
get_acs(
geography = "county",
variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
state = "55",
county = "129",
year = 2022
)ZIP Codes in Washburn County
ZIP codes do not align perfectly with county boundaries — a single ZIP code can span multiple counties, and a county can contain parts of many ZIP codes. The ratios below (from the Census 2020 ZCTA relationship file) show the land area share of each ZCTA that falls within Washburn County. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →
| ZIP Code | % in county |
|---|---|
| 54888 | 100.0% |
| 54875 | 100.0% |
| 54870 | 97.1% |
| 54859 | 81.0% |
| 54801 | 79.2% |
| 54871 | 57.6% |
| 54876 | 41.8% |
| 54817 | 33.9% |
| 54813 | 15.6% |
| 54843 | 7.9% |
| 54868 | 1.1% |
| 54830 | 0.2% |