La Crosse vs Sioux Falls
Metro-area medians — La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metro Area vs Sioux Falls, SD-MN Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Sioux Falls comes out ahead, winning 6 of the 8 clearly-decided measures.
La Crosse and Sioux Falls cost about the same to live in, but Sioux Falls households earn about 10% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Sioux Falls.
Their widest everyday difference: Sioux Falls is more educated — 39% of adults hold a bachelor's degree versus 35.4%.
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, Sioux Falls leaves you about $3,955/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 Sioux Falls for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Average commute
- + Air quality (median AQI)
More comparisons
Metros closest to La Crosse and Sioux Falls on cost, income, size, and education.
La Crosse vs Sioux Falls — frequently asked
- Is La Crosse cheaper than Sioux Falls?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the La Crosse and Sioux Falls metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, La Crosse or Sioux Falls?
- Sioux Falls has the higher median household income — $82,509 versus $75,117 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 10% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in La Crosse or Sioux Falls?
- A paycheck stretches further in Sioux Falls. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $91,038 there versus $81,854 in La Crosse.
- Which has cheaper rent, La Crosse or Sioux Falls?
- Rents are close — $1,087/mo in the La Crosse metro versus $1,094/mo in Sioux Falls (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).