Evansville vs La Crosse
Metro-area medians — Evansville, IN Metro Area vs La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metro Area — not the cities proper.
La Crosse comes out ahead, winning 7 of the 9 clearly-decided measures.
Evansville and La Crosse cost about the same to live in, but La Crosse households earn about 11% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in La Crosse.
Their widest everyday difference: La Crosse has the tighter job market — 1.9% unemployment versus 4.5%.
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, Evansville leaves you about $834/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 La Crosse for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Average commute
- + Air quality (median AQI)
More comparisons
Metros closest to Evansville and La Crosse on cost, income, size, and education.
Evansville vs La Crosse — frequently asked
- Is Evansville cheaper than La Crosse?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Evansville and La Crosse metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Evansville or La Crosse?
- La Crosse has the higher median household income — $75,117 versus $67,459 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 11% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Evansville or La Crosse?
- A paycheck stretches further in La Crosse. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $81,854 there versus $73,703 in Evansville.
- Which has cheaper rent, Evansville or La Crosse?
- Evansville has cheaper rent — a median of $1,007/mo versus $1,087/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).