The village is located mostly within Brown County; only a small portion extends west into Outagamie County. It is bordered to the east by Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan. Prior to being incorporated as the Village of Howard, the Town of Howard was commonly referred to as Duck Creek because of the Duck Creek waterway winding its way through the village.
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,546 people, 5,236 households, and 3,691 families residing in the village. The population density was 753.7 people per square mile (291.0/km²). There were 5,350 housing units at an average density of 297.7/sq mi (114.9/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 96.16% White, 0.73% African American, 0.90% Native American, 0.78% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.32% from other races, and 1.10% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.09% of the population.
There were 5,236 households out of which 38.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.7% were married couples living together, 9.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.5% were non-families. 21.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.04.
In the village the population was spread out with 27.8% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 34.8% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 7.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 96.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.7 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $51,974, and the median income for a family was $56,579. Males had a median income of $40,081 versus $25,900 for females. The per capita income for the village was $21,688. About 3.2% of families and 4.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.7% of those under age 18 and 3.7% of those age 65 or over.
The village has seen substantial growth in recent years because of its location at the intersection of Interstate 43, U.S. Highway 41 & State Highway 29. Interstate 43, which provides direct access to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chicago, terminates in Howard. U.S. Highway 41 will be reclassified as an Interstate Highway as early as 2011. The Department of Transportation is considering reclassifying U.S. 41 to Interstate 55 (I-55), which would connect the area to Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis, and New Orleans.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is reconstructing U.S. Highway 41 from Oshkosh to Howard. In Howard, this $1 billion project begins in earnest in 2010. Howard's location (contiguous to Green Bay and in close proximity to the Fox Valley), in conjunction with the U.S. 41 reconstruction project, has attracted several national development companies.