Wisconsin cities compared
All 13 Wisconsin metropolitan areas on the same $100,000 salary and the same $400,000 home. Eau Claire leaves you $7,643 a year better off than Kenosha — and none of it is income tax, which is identical everywhere in the state.
Eau Claire to Kenosha: $7,643 a year apart, same tax code
Wisconsin has 13 metropolitan areas with a published price index, and on $100,000 with a $400,000 home they are not interchangeable: $75,399 of purchasing power in Eau Claire against $67,756 in Kenosha — $7,643 a year, 7.6% of the salary, without leaving the state.
That gap is unusually easy to trust, because the income tax is identical in every row. Federal $13,170, FICA $7,650, Wisconsin state income tax $3,919, and no county or city in Wisconsin levies its own. Two things move down this table and only two: what a house costs in property tax, and what everything costs at the till.
| Metropolitan area | Buys | Behind the best | Prices | Property tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Eau Claire | $75,399 | best | 92.796 | 1.32% |
| 2La Crosse-Onalaska | $75,351 | −$48 | 91.769 | 1.53% |
| 3Fond du Lac | $75,235 | −$164 | 91.643 | 1.58% |
| 4Appleton | $75,037 | −$362 | 92.419 | 1.48% |
| 5Green Bay | $74,715 | −$684 | 93.086 | 1.43% |
| 6Wausau | $74,701 | −$698 | 92.651 | 1.51% |
| 7Sheboygan | $73,752 | −$1,647 | 94.014 | 1.48% |
| 8Oshkosh-Neenah | $73,615 | −$1,784 | 92.929 | 1.71% |
| 9Janesville-Beloit | $73,097 | −$2,301 | 93.703 | 1.69% |
| 10Racine-Mount Pleasant | $71,340 | −$4,059 | 95.961 | 1.70% |
| 11Milwaukee-Waukesha | $70,563 | −$4,836 | 96.937 | 1.71% |
| 12Madison | $70,434 | −$4,964 | 97.287 | 1.68% |
| 13Kenosha | $67,756 | −$7,643 | 101.118 | 1.69% |
Purchasing power on a $100,000 salary with a $400,000 home: take-home after federal, FICA, Wisconsin income tax and property tax, divided by that area’s price level. The income tax is identical in every row — the whole of the spread is property tax and the price level. Price index 100 is the US average.
1 of the 13 price above the national average and 12 below it — inside one state, under one tax code. A single state-level cost of living number averages that away and tells you about none of them.
Property tax runs from 1.32% in Eau Claire to 1.71% in Milwaukee — on a $400,000 home that is $5,294 against $6,859 a year, a difference of $1,566. Each rate is that area's counties averaged and weighted by how many homes are in each, because a house pays the tax and a rural county of a few thousand homes should not weigh the same as an urban one of several hundred thousand.
The 78 Wisconsin comparisons, resolved
Every pair of Wisconsin cities, each on its own page with the full working, the break-even salary and the property tax bill house by house. Ordered by the population that could plausibly be choosing between them:
Madison vs Milwaukee — Milwaukee by $128 a year. Price level 97.287 against 96.937; property tax 1.68% against 1.71%.
Green Bay vs Milwaukee — Green Bay by $4,152 a year. Price level 93.086 against 96.937; property tax 1.43% against 1.71%.
Appleton vs Milwaukee — Appleton by $4,474 a year. Price level 92.419 against 96.937; property tax 1.48% against 1.71%.
Milwaukee vs Racine — Racine by $777 a year. Price level 96.937 against 95.961; property tax 1.71% against 1.70%.
Eau Claire vs Milwaukee — Eau Claire by $4,836 a year. Price level 92.796 against 96.937; property tax 1.32% against 1.71%.
Milwaukee vs Oshkosh — Oshkosh by $3,052 a year. Price level 96.937 against 92.929; property tax 1.71% against 1.71%.
La Crosse vs Milwaukee — La Crosse by $4,788 a year. Price level 91.769 against 96.937; property tax 1.53% against 1.71%.
Kenosha vs Milwaukee — Milwaukee by $2,807 a year. Price level 101.118 against 96.937; property tax 1.69% against 1.71%.
Janesville vs Milwaukee — Janesville by $2,535 a year. Price level 93.703 against 96.937; property tax 1.69% against 1.71%.
Milwaukee vs Wausau — Wausau by $4,138 a year. Price level 96.937 against 92.651; property tax 1.71% against 1.51%.
Milwaukee vs Sheboygan — Sheboygan by $3,189 a year. Price level 96.937 against 94.014; property tax 1.71% against 1.48%.
Fond du Lac vs Milwaukee — Fond du Lac by $4,672 a year. Price level 91.643 against 96.937; property tax 1.58% against 1.71%.
Green Bay vs Madison — Green Bay by $4,281 a year. Price level 93.086 against 97.287; property tax 1.43% against 1.68%.
Appleton vs Madison — Appleton by $4,603 a year. Price level 92.419 against 97.287; property tax 1.48% against 1.68%.
Madison vs Racine — Racine by $906 a year. Price level 97.287 against 95.961; property tax 1.68% against 1.70%.
Eau Claire vs Madison — Eau Claire by $4,964 a year. Price level 92.796 against 97.287; property tax 1.32% against 1.68%.
Madison vs Oshkosh — Oshkosh by $3,180 a year. Price level 97.287 against 92.929; property tax 1.68% against 1.71%.
La Crosse vs Madison — La Crosse by $4,917 a year. Price level 91.769 against 97.287; property tax 1.53% against 1.68%.
Kenosha vs Madison — Madison by $2,678 a year. Price level 101.118 against 97.287; property tax 1.69% against 1.68%.
Janesville vs Madison — Janesville by $2,663 a year. Price level 93.703 against 97.287; property tax 1.69% against 1.68%.
Madison vs Wausau — Wausau by $4,266 a year. Price level 97.287 against 92.651; property tax 1.68% against 1.51%.
Madison vs Sheboygan — Sheboygan by $3,318 a year. Price level 97.287 against 94.014; property tax 1.68% against 1.48%.
Fond du Lac vs Madison — Fond du Lac by $4,801 a year. Price level 91.643 against 97.287; property tax 1.58% against 1.68%.
Appleton vs Green Bay — Appleton by $322 a year. Price level 92.419 against 93.086; property tax 1.48% against 1.43%.
And 54 more pairs of Wisconsin cities, each with its own page.
Every Wisconsin city, and what it can be compared with
The areas themselves, largest first. Each line has what defines that city on the two measures that matter here, and then every comparison it takes part in:
Milwaukee-Waukesha — 1.6m people across 4 counties. Price level 96.937, housing 97.111, property tax 1.71%. Compared with Madison, Green Bay, Appleton, Racine, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Kenosha, Janesville, Wausau, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac.
Madison — 684k people across 4 counties. Price level 97.287, housing 99.748, property tax 1.68%. Compared with Milwaukee, Green Bay, Appleton, Racine, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Kenosha, Janesville, Wausau, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac.
Green Bay — 329k people across 3 counties. Price level 93.086, housing 74.696, property tax 1.43%. Compared with Milwaukee, Madison, Appleton, Racine, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Kenosha, Janesville, Wausau, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac.
Appleton — 244k people across 2 counties. Price level 92.419, housing 70.785, property tax 1.48%. Compared with Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Racine, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Kenosha, Janesville, Wausau, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac.
Racine-Mount Pleasant — 197k people across 1 county. Price level 95.961, housing 92.029, property tax 1.70%. Compared with Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Appleton, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Kenosha, Janesville, Wausau, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac.
Eau Claire — 173k people across 2 counties. Price level 92.796, housing 72.85, property tax 1.32%. Compared with Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Appleton, Racine, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Kenosha, Janesville, Wausau, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac.
Oshkosh-Neenah — 171k people across 1 county. Price level 92.929, housing 74.442, property tax 1.71%. Compared with Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Appleton, Racine, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Kenosha, Janesville, Wausau, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac.
La Crosse-Onalaska — 170k people across 3 counties. Price level 91.769, housing 69.386, property tax 1.53%. Compared with Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Appleton, Racine, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, Kenosha, Janesville, Wausau, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac.
Kenosha — 168k people across 1 county. Price level 101.118, housing 95.814, property tax 1.69%. Compared with Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Appleton, Racine, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Janesville, Wausau, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac.
Janesville-Beloit — 164k people across 1 county. Price level 93.703, housing 79.552, property tax 1.69%. Compared with Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Appleton, Racine, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Kenosha, Wausau, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac.
Wausau — 138k people across 1 county. Price level 92.651, housing 71.464, property tax 1.51%. Compared with Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Appleton, Racine, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Kenosha, Janesville, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac.
Sheboygan — 118k people across 1 county. Price level 94.014, housing 80.54, property tax 1.48%. Compared with Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Appleton, Racine, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Kenosha, Janesville, Wausau, Fond du Lac.
Fond du Lac — 104k people across 1 county. Price level 91.643, housing 67.317, property tax 1.58%. Compared with Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Appleton, Racine, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Kenosha, Janesville, Wausau, Sheboygan.
The counties behind each rate
Nobody pays a metropolitan area's property tax rate. They pay their county's, and the figures above are those county rates averaged and weighted by how many homes each county holds. Opened up:
Milwaukee averages 1.71% across 4 counties: Milwaukee County 2.04%, Waukesha County 1.21%, Washington County 1.20%, Ozaukee County 1.25%. Inside the area the rate runs from 1.20% in Washington County to 2.04% in Milwaukee County, which is $3,340 a year on a $400,000 home — a real spread inside a single labour market.
Madison averages 1.68% across 4 counties: Dane County 1.71%, Columbia County 1.48%, Green County 1.64%, Iowa County 1.56%. Inside the area the rate runs from 1.48% in Columbia County to 1.71% in Dane County, which is $942 a year on a $400,000 home — a real spread inside a single labour market.
Green Bay averages 1.43% across 3 counties: Brown County 1.46%, Oconto County 1.25%, Kewaunee County 1.48%. Inside the area the rate runs from 1.25% in Oconto County to 1.48% in Kewaunee County, which is $901 a year on a $400,000 home — a real spread inside a single labour market.
Appleton averages 1.48% across 2 counties: Outagamie County 1.47%, Calumet County 1.52%. Inside the area the rate runs from 1.47% in Outagamie County to 1.52% in Calumet County, which is $210 a year on a $400,000 home — a real spread inside a single labour market.
Racine averages 1.70% across 1 county: Racine County 1.70%. One county, so the area rate is that county's rate exactly — no averaging involved.
Eau Claire averages 1.32% across 2 counties: Eau Claire County 1.43%, Chippewa County 1.16%. Inside the area the rate runs from 1.16% in Chippewa County to 1.43% in Eau Claire County, which is $1,077 a year on a $400,000 home — a real spread inside a single labour market.
Oshkosh averages 1.71% across 1 county: Winnebago County 1.71%. One county, so the area rate is that county's rate exactly — no averaging involved.
La Crosse averages 1.53% across 3 counties: La Crosse County 1.63%, Vernon County 1.37%, Houston County 1.16%. Inside the area the rate runs from 1.16% in Houston County to 1.63% in La Crosse County, which is $1,864 a year on a $400,000 home — a real spread inside a single labour market.
Kenosha averages 1.69% across 1 county: Kenosha County 1.69%. One county, so the area rate is that county's rate exactly — no averaging involved.
Janesville averages 1.69% across 1 county: Rock County 1.69%. One county, so the area rate is that county's rate exactly — no averaging involved.
Wausau averages 1.51% across 1 county: Marathon County 1.51%. One county, so the area rate is that county's rate exactly — no averaging involved.
Sheboygan averages 1.48% across 1 county: Sheboygan County 1.48%. One county, so the area rate is that county's rate exactly — no averaging involved.
Fond du Lac averages 1.58% across 1 county: Fond du Lac County 1.58%. One county, so the area rate is that county's rate exactly — no averaging involved.
Which is the limitation of every figure on this page, stated rather than buried: an area rate is an average, and your address decides what you actually pay. The county pages linked above carry the rate, the assessment basis and the source for each one.
Where Wisconsin cities sit among the 380 in the country
A state ranking answers "where in Wisconsin". It does not answer whether Wisconsin is an expensive place to begin with, and the two questions have different answers often enough to be worth separating.
Against all 380 metropolitan areas the Bureau of Economic Analysis prices, Kenosha ranks 63 and Fond du Lac ranks 249, counting from the most expensive. The national median area sits at 93.492 — Monroe — so 6 of these 13 Wisconsin areas are dearer than the typical American metropolitan area and 7 are cheaper.
Neither end of this state reaches the national extremes, which run from 115.613 to 83.597.
The distinction matters for a specific reason. Everything on this page holds the income tax constant because these cities share a state; the moment a move crosses a state line that stops being true, and the comparison becomes the harder one — which is what Wisconsin against every other state is for.
The tax that is the same in all 13
Worth spelling out, because it is what makes the ranking above readable at all. On $100,000, in every one of these areas:
Federal income tax — $13,170. Set by Congress, identical everywhere in the United States.
Social Security and Medicare — $7,650. Also federal, and also flat across the country up to the Social Security ceiling.
Wisconsin income tax — $3,919. One set of brackets for the whole state, one standard deduction, applied identically in every city on this page.
Local income tax — $0. Wisconsin does not permit counties, cities or school districts to levy their own. That is not a modelling shortcut, it is the law, and it is the condition on which these pages get published: in the eleven states that do permit it, the levying jurisdictions do not line up with metropolitan areas and no honest rate can be assigned.
Which leaves property tax as the only tax in the whole comparison that moves — from $5,294 to $6,859 a year on the same $400,000 home — and the price level as the only other thing. Two variables, both measured, both sourced. It is as clean as a cost-of-living comparison gets.
The top of this table changes depending on whether you buy
A ranking built on one salary and one house value is worth exactly as much as its assumptions, so here are the same 13 areas resolved again with those assumptions changed.
Renting, with no property tax at all: Fond du Lac moves to the top, ahead of Eau Claire. Property tax is what was holding the order in place, which means a renter and a buyer looking at the same two cities should reach different answers.
On $60,000 instead of $100,000: Eau Claire still leads. The gap narrows to $5,272 — smaller in dollars, but a larger share of a smaller salary.
On $250,000: Fond du Lac leads. At this income the property tax on a $400,000 home is close to noise and the price level decides everything.
This is the same discipline applied to a single published figure elsewhere on this site: a number without its range is half a number. Every page linked above lets you set your own salary, your own house and your own horizon, and recomputes the whole comparison rather than scaling it.
How this is worked out, and what it does not claim
Every row is the same calculation: gross salary in, federal income tax and FICA out, Wisconsin income tax out, property tax on a $400,000 home out — then what is left divided by that area's price level, so the figure is what the money buys rather than what the payslip says.
The price index is the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity, 2024, published per metropolitan area with a documented method and broken into housing, goods, utilities and services. Which counties make up each area comes from the Census Bureau delineation file, joined by CBSA code and never by name — there are thirty "Washington County" in the United States and a join on names would have failed silently.
US Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities by State and Metro Area, 2024 (released 19 February 2026) — read 2026-09-10. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area
US Census Bureau — Core Based Statistical Areas delineation file, 2023 (which counties form each metropolitan area) — read 2026-09-10. https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/demo/metro-micro/delineation-files.html
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey — county effective property tax rates and housing units — read 2026-08-31. https://data.census.gov/
What it does not claim: that the city at the top is the better place to live. This measures what a salary buys. Schools, the commute, the weather and how far you are from your family are not in it, and on a move inside one state they are usually what actually decides it.
It also assumes one salary, one house value and a buyer rather than a renter. Every page linked above lets you change all three, and the answer moves with them — on some pairs enough to change which city comes out ahead.
Where to go next
Questions
- Which city in Wisconsin leaves you best off?
- Eau Claire, at $75,399 of purchasing power on $100,000 with a $400,000 home — $7,643 a year more than Kenosha at the other end of the table. Because the income tax is identical everywhere in Wisconsin, that ranking is made of two things only: the price level and property tax.
- Which is the cheapest city in Wisconsin?
- Fond du Lac, at 91.643 on the Bureau of Economic Analysis price index where 100 is the US average, against 101.118 in Kenosha. Cheapest is not the same as best off, though: property tax is set separately and can move a household by $434 a year on the same house.
- Does income tax differ between cities in Wisconsin?
- No. Wisconsin sets one set of brackets for the whole state, and it does not let counties or cities levy their own income tax. On $100,000 the bill is federal $13,170, FICA $7,650 and state $3,919 in every one of these 13 areas. That is what makes comparing them clean.
- How much does cost of living vary inside Wisconsin?
- From 91.643 to 101.118 on the price index — 9.5 points between Fond du Lac and Kenosha. In take-home terms that is $7,643 a year of purchasing power on the same salary.
- How many Wisconsin city comparisons are there?
- 78, one page each, every pair of the 13 metropolitan areas the Bureau of Economic Analysis prices in Wisconsin. Each resolves the same way — income tax, property tax and price level — and each shows the break-even salary in both directions.