LivingCostFacts / state

Wisconsin cost of living

Wisconsin has an all-items price parity of 94.1 on the U.S. = 100 scale. Compare the statewide picture with county rents and metro price levels.

BEA 2024 · HUD FY2027 · ACS 2020–2024 · CPI through 2026-10

94.1
All-items price level

BEA 2024; U.S. = 100

$77,485
Median household income

ACS 2020–2024

$266,500
Median home value

Owner-occupied homes, ACS 2020–2024

$1,251
Typical 2BR benchmark

Population-weighted county FMR, FY2027

Read the local picture

Regional Price Parities (RPPs) compare prices across places in the same year. An index of 110 means prices are 10% above the U.S. level; 90 means 10% below. RPP measures relative price levels, while CPI measures price change over time.

Wisconsin: RPP components

BEA 2024 regional context; each category is compared with its own U.S. = 100 benchmark. These are not county price estimates or spending shares.

  1. All items94.1
  2. Goods94.3
  3. Housing rents79.3
  4. Utilities89.9
  5. Other services99.5
0100.0

Black marker: U.S. benchmark = 100 in each row.

Put the benchmark in context

Fair Market Rent (FMR) is HUD’s estimate of the 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality rental homes occupied by recent movers. It includes rent and most tenant-paid utilities. A household’s actual rent can differ substantially by neighborhood, lease and property.

Monthly rent by bedroom

HUD FY2027 gross monthly FMR; includes most tenant-paid utilities. Dollars per month.

  1. Studio$941
  2. 1 bedroom$1,020
  3. 2 bedrooms$1,251
  4. 3 bedrooms$1,602
  5. 4 bedrooms$1,759
0$1,759

Income after benchmark rent is $62,468 a year: ACS median household income minus 12 months of the population-weighted 2BR FMR. This is a comparison between separate datasets and periods, before taxes and all other expenses; it is not disposable income.

The data in view

Price levels relative to the U.S.

BEA RPP, U.S. = 100 each year. This is not an inflation index.

View chart data
Period or categoryValue
200893.2
200994.1
201094.7
201193.7
201294.3
201393.9
201493.8
201593.3
201693.2
201793.5
201894.0
201994.5
202092.7
202193.3
202292.4
202393.2
202494.1

Price levels by category

Each category has its own U.S. benchmark of 100. Components are indexes, not spending shares.

Category2024 RPP
All items94.1
Goods94.3
Housing rents79.3
Utilities89.9
Other services99.5

Monthly Fair Market Rent by bedroom

HUD 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality units; includes tenant-paid utilities except telephone, cable and internet. These are benchmarks, not asking-rent medians.

Home sizeFY2027 monthly gross rent
Studio$941
1 bedroom$1,020
2 bedrooms$1,251
3 bedrooms$1,602
4 bedrooms$1,759

County cost comparison

Income: ACS 2020–2024. Rent: HUD FY2027. Rent / income = 12 × 2BR FMR ÷ median household income; it does not measure actual renter burden.

County or equivalent2BR rent / monthMedian household incomeRent / income
Adams County$1,014$59,44220.5%
Ashland County$1,014$62,46219.5%
Barron County$1,027$65,93318.7%
Bayfield County$1,014$71,15117.1%
Brown County$1,287$79,64919.4%
Buffalo County$1,019$70,47917.3%
Burnett County$1,028$62,81919.6%
Calumet County$1,256$88,81017.0%
Chippewa County$1,259$74,68020.2%
Clark County$1,014$67,40018.1%
Columbia County$1,136$85,35116.0%
Crawford County$1,014$64,09419.0%
Dane County$1,565$89,97520.9%
Dodge County$1,100$75,92917.4%
Door County$1,268$74,79520.3%
Douglas County$1,207$75,09919.3%
Dunn County$1,042$74,82416.7%
Eau Claire County$1,259$74,54620.3%
Florence County$1,063$61,08620.9%
Fond du Lac County$1,224$74,27519.8%
Forest County$1,014$61,07119.9%
Grant County$1,014$66,85818.2%
Green County$1,016$82,85214.7%
Green Lake County$1,014$68,19617.8%
Iowa County$1,093$82,18216.0%
Iron County$1,014$60,62520.1%
Jackson County$1,014$68,11017.9%
Jefferson County$1,209$83,75017.3%
Juneau County$1,014$67,27018.1%
Kenosha County$1,441$81,23921.3%
Kewaunee County$1,287$82,72518.7%
La Crosse County$1,343$73,01322.1%
Lafayette County$1,014$76,46215.9%
Langlade County$1,014$55,87821.8%
Lincoln County$1,014$68,16417.9%
Manitowoc County$1,014$69,14817.6%
Marathon County$1,217$77,88418.8%
Marinette County$1,014$63,80919.1%
Marquette County$1,014$65,68118.5%
Menominee County$1,014$62,10819.6%
Milwaukee County$1,263$64,43523.5%
Monroe County$1,039$69,46717.9%
Oconto County$1,014$75,04916.2%
Oneida County$1,027$69,37117.8%
Outagamie County$1,256$85,06917.7%
Ozaukee County$1,263$96,99615.6%
Pepin County$1,014$75,25616.2%
Pierce County$1,734$92,10922.6%
Polk County$1,121$77,21917.4%
Portage County$1,077$76,07017.0%
Price County$1,014$60,54620.1%
Racine County$1,283$78,09619.7%
Richland County$1,014$66,42018.3%
Rock County$1,280$75,67320.3%
Rusk County$1,014$59,94420.3%
Sauk County$1,168$79,54117.6%
Sawyer County$1,089$60,80121.5%
Shawano County$1,014$66,47918.3%
Sheboygan County$1,168$73,09419.2%
St. Croix County$1,734$103,04620.2%
Taylor County$1,014$69,35017.5%
Trempealeau County$1,059$76,31316.7%
Vernon County$1,097$71,89318.3%
Vilas County$1,022$68,43117.9%
Walworth County$1,300$80,52019.4%
Washburn County$1,014$63,44119.2%
Washington County$1,263$96,35915.7%
Waukesha County$1,263$106,07614.3%
Waupaca County$1,014$72,83016.7%
Waushara County$1,014$67,10718.1%
Winnebago County$1,195$74,92519.1%
Wood County$1,014$67,98917.9%

Metros with member counties in Wisconsin

BEA 2024, U.S. = 100. Rent is a population-weighted mean of member-county benchmarks where available.

Metro areaAll-items RPPHousing RPP2BR rent / month
Appleton, WI92.470.8$1,256
Duluth, MN-WI88.871.1$1,207
Eau Claire, WI92.872.8$1,259
Fond du Lac, WI91.667.3$1,224
Green Bay, WI93.174.7$1,254
Janesville-Beloit, WI93.779.6$1,280
Kenosha, WI101.195.8$1,441
La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN91.869.4$1,298
Madison, WI97.399.7$1,483
Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI96.997.1$1,263
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI104.8111.8$1,725
Oshkosh-Neenah, WI92.974.4$1,195
Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI96.092.0$1,283
Sheboygan, WI94.080.5$1,168
Wausau, WI92.771.5$1,217