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Place dossier plate
SheetFL-WAUSAU-FL · Wausau, FL 414 pop · income 5th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Wausau
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Wausau on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hardin · lowest
29,688
Hardin · lowest
29,688 median HH income
11.9% of the leader · rank #1
Wausau · this city
35,750
Wausau · this city
35,750 median HH income
14.3% of the leader · rank #2
Marksville · near
35,750
Marksville · near
35,750 median HH income
14.3% of the leader · rank #3
Phillipsburg · near
35,750
Phillipsburg · near
35,750 median HH income
14.3% of the leader · rank #4
Edmund · near
35,750
Edmund · near
35,750 median HH income
14.3% of the leader · rank #5
Bridgewater · near
35,755
Bridgewater · near
35,755 median HH income
14.3% of the leader · rank #6
Sea Ranch Lak… · highest
250,001
Sea Ranch Lak… · highest
250,001 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Wausau on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 414.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Wausau places in the 5th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
5th
percentile, household income
10th
percentile, home value
73rd
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Wausau, FL
414 people live in Wausau, Florida - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Wausau households earn a median of $35,750 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 33.6%. Wausau's housing stock carries a median value of $100,000, and the median resident age is 48.1 years. 6.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 53.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Florida carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Florida at 103.4 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,526 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $225 across Florida, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 75.7 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Wausau's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from population change to work and mobility to housing and income to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Wausau, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Wausau growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +19 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.1% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
What does the journey to work look like in Wausau?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 86.2%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
How far does income reach against housing in Wausau?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 33.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Wausau?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Within Florida, the closest population matches are Lemon Grove (418 residents, $33,750 income); Harold (408 residents, $69,265 income); Miccosukee (407 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Nixburg, AL (414 residents); Twain, CA (414 residents); Victor, CO (414 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 33.6% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
103.4 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Florida average
F
City profile score · Wausau, FL
7/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living F
103.4 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income F
$35,750
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
33.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
6.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Wausau profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 25/100 (F) · 103.4 index
Household income: 1/100 (F) · $35,750
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 33.6%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 6.9%
How does Wausau compare to other US cities?
Where Wausau sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income5% higher than other cities
Home value10% pricier than other cities
Median rent73% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Wausau against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Florida only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Florida-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Wausau near the bottom of Florida's cities
Among the 930 Florida cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Wausau ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Wausau only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#873 of 903
3rd percentile in Florida
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 930
0th percentile in Florida
Median Home Value
#856 of 894
4th percentile in Florida
Poverty Rate
#28 of 930
97th percentile in Florida
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#880 of 930
5th percentile in Florida
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Florida only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
5th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Wausau's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$100,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 90% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Wausau's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,573 of 15,516
More affordable than 64% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,839 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.8×, Wausau sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,573 of 15,516 and #4,839 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$35,750Wausau, FL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Wausau, FL median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Wausau, FL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)6.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)33.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
414
Median Income
$35,750
Median Home Value
$100,000
Median Age
48.1
Poverty Rate
33.6%
Labor force participation
53.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
6.9%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Wausau's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
375 residents
2021
375 residents
2022
381 residents
2023
384 residents
2024
387 residents
2025
394 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
86.2%
Carpool
10.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
3.4%
Based on 203 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Florida statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Florida at $225 (electricity about $145 , water and sewer about $55 ).
These are Florida statewide averages, not a meter reading for Wausau. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Florida's BEA cost-of-living index is 103.4 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Wausau is $1,526/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Florida statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 75.7 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Florida statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Wausau sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Wausau compares to similar-size Florida cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.