Appleton vs Billings
Metro-area medians — Appleton, WI Metro Area vs Billings, MT Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Appleton comes out ahead, winning 7 of the 7 clearly-decided measures.
Appleton and Billings cost about the same to live in, but Appleton households earn about 6% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Appleton.
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, Appleton leaves you about $1,158/yr better off after tax and local prices.
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.
Choose Appleton for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Median home value
- + Unemployment
- + Average commute
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Appleton vs Billings — frequently asked
- Is Appleton cheaper than Billings?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Appleton and Billings metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Appleton or Billings?
- Appleton has the higher median household income — $82,501 versus $77,770 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 6% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Appleton or Billings?
- A paycheck stretches further in Appleton. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $89,268 there versus $83,153 in Billings.
- Which has cheaper rent, Appleton or Billings?
- Rents are close — $1,164/mo in the Appleton metro versus $1,170/mo in Billings (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).