Oshkosh, WI
Oshkosh-Neenah, WI Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Oshkosh-Neenah, WI Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Oshkosh ranks 189th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 194th for income. A household earns $71,146 a year while median rent runs $1,029/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 7% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is job market (7th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (198th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 54th and home prices 88th 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 Oshkosh, your take-home is worth about $62,901 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
- 194th of 300↑21.9%$71,146
- 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.
- 116th of 30093 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $76,560
- Per-capita income
- $39,195
- Full-time pay
- $45,419
Housing
- Median rent
- 54th of 300↑29.4%$1,029/mo
- Home value
- 88th of 300↑51.8%$250,200
- Property tax
- $3,645/yr · 1.5%
- Sales tax
- 5.70%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 7th of 3002.2%
- Bachelor's+
- 192nd of 30030.9%
- Avg commute
- 49th of 30021.3 min
People
- Population
- 173,307
- Population change
- +0.8%
- Median age
- 39.4 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 4.2%
- Broadband
- 94.1%
Environment & risk
- Natural-hazard loss
- 126th of 300$11/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 88th of 30016.7%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 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
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Job market
- + Commute
- + Health
Watch-outs
- —
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — oshkosh wittman rgnl ap.
What jobs pay in Oshkosh
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $259,390
- IT managers
- $163,480
- Pharmacists
- $144,150
- Financial managers
- $137,120
- Lawyers
- $115,290
- General & operations managers
- $111,210
- Software developers
- $104,000
- Registered nurses
- $87,340
- Plumbers
- $86,320
- Carpenters
- $84,430
- Civil engineers
- $82,760
- Police officers
- $80,200
- Accountants & auditors
- $77,580
- Electricians
- $77,080
- Web developers
- $76,650
- Secondary school teachers
- $60,420
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,150
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $59,490
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $58,470
- Construction laborers
- $51,270
- Customer service reps
- $43,240
- Janitors
- $36,140
- Retail salespersons
- $32,690
- Cashiers
- $30,550
- Waiters & waitresses
- $29,840
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 Oshkosh 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.
- Illinois494
- California225
- Michigan204
- Washington165
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Oshkosh
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Oshkosh metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Oshkosh metro?
- Median gross rent across the Oshkosh-Neenah, WI Metro Area is $1,029 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Oshkosh.
- What is the median household income in the Oshkosh metro?
- A typical household in the Oshkosh-Neenah, WI Metro Area earns $71,146 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Oshkosh expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Oshkosh-Neenah, WI Metro Area runs about 7% 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 Oshkosh metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $76,560 (versus its face value of $71,146). CityLedger rates the Oshkosh-Neenah, WI Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Oshkosh metro?
- The median home value across the Oshkosh-Neenah, WI Metro Area is $250,200 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Oshkosh metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Oshkosh-Neenah, WI Metro Area is 2.2% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).