La Crosse, WI
La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, La Crosse ranks 132nd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 155th for income. A household earns $75,117 a year while median rent runs $1,087/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 8% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is job market (2nd of 300), while household income is the soft spot (155th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 74th and home prices 117th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in La Crosse, your take-home is worth about $63,696 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 155th of 300↑26%$75,117
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 84th of 30092 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $81,854
- Per-capita income
- $41,531
- Full-time pay
- $43,129
Housing
- Median rent
- 74th of 300↑28.3%$1,087/mo
- Home value
- 117th of 300↑41%$274,600
- Property tax
- $3,568/yr · 1.3%
- Sales tax
- 5.70%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 2nd of 3001.9%
- Bachelor's+
- 128th of 30035.4%
- Avg commute
- 9th of 30019.2 min
People
- Population
- 170,763
- Population change
- +25%
- Median age
- 40.4 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 2.8%
- Broadband
- 92.4%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 29th of 30037
- Natural-hazard loss
- 109th of 300$11/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 77th of 30016.4%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 7.2%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Job market
- + Commute
- + Air quality
- + Health
Watch-outs
- —
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — la crosse muni ap.
What jobs pay in La Crosse
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $327,890
- Pharmacists
- $159,020
- IT managers
- $141,100
- Financial managers
- $133,280
- Lawyers
- $104,910
- General & operations managers
- $102,670
- Software developers
- $102,110
- Registered nurses
- $98,370
- Civil engineers
- $95,870
- Plumbers
- $82,610
- Electricians
- $78,760
- Accountants & auditors
- $76,680
- Police officers
- $74,050
- Secondary school teachers
- $62,740
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,690
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $60,300
- Carpenters
- $58,950
- Construction laborers
- $58,900
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $53,160
- Customer service reps
- $45,820
- Janitors
- $36,130
- Retail salespersons
- $34,090
- Cashiers
- $30,900
- Waiters & waitresses
- $28,380
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the La Crosse metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Wisconsin are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- New York211
- Illinois209
- Iowa208
- Texas194
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like La Crosse
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
La Crosse metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the La Crosse metro?
- Median gross rent across the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metro Area is $1,087 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of La Crosse.
- What is the median household income in the La Crosse metro?
- A typical household in the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metro Area earns $75,117 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is La Crosse expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metro Area runs about 8% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the La Crosse metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $81,854 (versus its face value of $75,117). CityLedger rates the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the La Crosse metro?
- The median home value across the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metro Area is $274,600 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the La Crosse metro?
- The unemployment rate in the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metro Area is 1.9% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).