Milwaukee, WI
Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Milwaukee ranks 151st for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 135th for income. A household earns $77,919 a year while median rent runs $1,177/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 3% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is hazard safety (24th of 300), while cost of living is the soft spot (179th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 127th and home prices 169th 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 Milwaukee, your take-home is worth about $60,301 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
- 135th of 300↑18.3%$77,919
- 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.
- 179th of 30097 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $80,381
- Per-capita income
- $45,168
- Full-time pay
- $50,274
Housing
- Median rent
- 127th of 300↑28.8%$1,177/mo
- Home value
- 169th of 300↑43.1%$331,100
- Property tax
- $4,240/yr · 1.3%
- Sales tax
- 5.70%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 92nd of 3003.8%
- Bachelor's+
- 67th of 30040.9%
- Avg commute
- 109th of 30023.2 min
People
- Population
- 1,574,452
- Population change
- 0%
- Median age
- 39.2 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 8.4%
- Broadband
- 94.1%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 141st of 30045
- Natural-hazard loss
- 24th of 300$8/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 136th of 30018.1%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.9%
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
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- —
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — milwaukee mitchell ap.
What jobs pay in Milwaukee
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $287,350
- IT managers
- $161,220
- Financial managers
- $156,100
- Pharmacists
- $153,340
- Lawyers
- $131,100
- General & operations managers
- $125,490
- Software developers
- $123,730
- Registered nurses
- $97,360
- Civil engineers
- $96,190
- Plumbers
- $84,700
- Police officers
- $82,090
- Accountants & auditors
- $80,290
- Electricians
- $77,800
- Secondary school teachers
- $75,370
- Carpenters
- $63,910
- Elementary school teachers
- $61,480
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $59,580
- Construction laborers
- $57,430
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $56,320
- Customer service reps
- $47,840
- Janitors
- $36,620
- Retail salespersons
- $34,410
- Cashiers
- $30,400
- Waiters & waitresses
- $30,330
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 Milwaukee 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.
- Illinois6,868
- Minnesota1,777
- California1,684
- Texas1,542
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Milwaukee
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Milwaukee metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Milwaukee metro?
- Median gross rent across the Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI Metro Area is $1,177 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Milwaukee.
- What is the median household income in the Milwaukee metro?
- A typical household in the Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI Metro Area earns $77,919 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Milwaukee expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI Metro Area runs about 3% 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 Milwaukee metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $80,381 (versus its face value of $77,919). CityLedger rates the Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Milwaukee metro?
- The median home value across the Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI Metro Area is $331,100 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Milwaukee metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI Metro Area is 3.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).