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Place dossier plate
SheetWI-ALTOONA-WI · Altoona, WI 8,750 pop · income 62nd 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 Altoona
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Altoona on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Coffeyville · lowest
41,901
Coffeyville · lowest
41,901 median HH income
31.8% of the leader · rank #1
Deer Park · near
80,122
Deer Park · near
80,122 median HH income
60.8% of the leader · rank #2
Day Heights · near
80,125
Day Heights · near
80,125 median HH income
60.8% of the leader · rank #3
Marklesburg · near
80,125
Marklesburg · near
80,125 median HH income
60.8% of the leader · rank #4
Altoona · this city
80,126
Altoona · this city
80,126 median HH income
60.8% of the leader · rank #5
Cosmopolis · near
80,132
Cosmopolis · near
80,132 median HH income
60.8% of the leader · rank #6
North Haledon · highest
131,810
North Haledon · highest
131,810 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Altoona on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 8,750.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Altoona - the verdict
Nationally, Altoona sits in the 62nd percentile for household income and the 36th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
62nd
percentile, household income
49th
percentile, home value
29th
percentile, median rent
36th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Altoona, WI
Wisconsin's Altoona is a small town, with 8,750 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Altoona report a median income of $80,126 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.3%. Typical homes in Altoona are valued around $220,900, and the median resident age is 36.4 years. About 41.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 66.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 79 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 30% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1839.3 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, near the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Wisconsin run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Wisconsin at 94.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,097 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Wisconsin run around $225, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 59.1 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Altoona'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist to reported crime to schools and households to work and mobility to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Altoona, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, local building permits, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Altoona?
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 7.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Altoona?
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Wisconsin, the closest population matches are Monona (8,604 residents, $87,784 income); Plymouth (8,913 residents, $67,784 income); Delavan (8,531 residents, $71,121 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Coffeyville, KS (8,752 residents); Milton, WA (8,747 residents); Toppenish, WA (8,746 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Altoona?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1839.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 19% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 41.7% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Altoona?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.9%. 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. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Drive alone
77.9%
Work from home
12.8%
Public transit
0.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 4,546 workers age 16+.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +963 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +11.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 79 housing units authorized in 2024. 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.
2020 estimate
8,413
2025 estimate
9,376
Period change
+11.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above median income · poverty 7.3% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Wisconsin average
B-
City profile score · Altoona, WI
68/100
5 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.
Violent crime A
31 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B+
41.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living B-
94.1 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 C+
$80,126
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate C-
7.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Altoona profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 89/100 (A) · 31 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 77/100 (B+) · 41.7%
Cost of living: 68/100 (B-) · 94.1 index
Household income: 60/100 (C+) · $80,126
Poverty rate: 51/100 (C-) · 7.3%
Where Altoona sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Altoona's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Altoona highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Altoona, WI (this city): home $220,900, crime 1,839/100k
Coffeyville, KS : home $55,600, crime 3,132/100k
Milton, WA : home $511,000, crime 3,015/100k
Toppenish, WA : home $214,200, crime 4,562/100k
Mascoutah, IL : home $226,300, crime 390/100k
Franklin, NH : home $243,800, crime 1,352/100k
North Haledon, NJ : home $517,200, crime 344/100k
Monona, WI : home $390,400, crime 3,172/100k
Plymouth, WI : home $194,900, crime 1,057/100k
Delavan, WI : home $194,500, crime 1,407/100k
Rice Lake, WI : home $178,100, crime 1,589/100k
Lake Geneva, WI : home $323,000, crime 1,736/100k
How does Altoona compare to other US cities?
Where Altoona sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income62% higher than other cities
Home value49% pricier than other cities
Median rent29% pricier than other cities
Safety36% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Wisconsin and the picture shifts: Altoona ranks #167 of 202 Wisconsin cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Altoona against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Wisconsin only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Wisconsin-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Altoona near the bottom of Wisconsin's cities
Among the 761 Wisconsin cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Altoona ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Altoona only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#236 of 753
69th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 761
0th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Home Value
#247 of 754
67th percentile in Wisconsin
Poverty Rate
#277 of 761
63rd percentile in Wisconsin
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#92 of 761
88th percentile in Wisconsin
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 Wisconsin only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
62nd percentile nationally for median household income · 36th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Altoona's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Altoona's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Altoona's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$220,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 51% 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
Altoona's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,339 of 15,516
More affordable than 66% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,649 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.8×, Altoona sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,339 of 15,516 and #4,649 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
$80,126Altoona, WI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Altoona, WI median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Altoona, WI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)41.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
8,750
Median Income
$80,126
Median Home Value
$220,900
Median Age
36.4
Poverty Rate
7.3%
Labor force participation
66.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
41.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1839.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
31.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1808.2
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Altoona's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
8,413 residents
2021
8,765 residents
2022
8,840 residents
2023
9,086 residents
2024
9,278 residents
2025
9,376 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
79
housing units authorized
Single-Family
13
detached homes
Multifamily
66
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
113
36
77
$12.0M
2020
256
36
220
$44.4M
2021
214
41
173
$37.9M
2022
90
19
71
$20.7M
2023
166
14
152
$32.7M
2024
79
13
66
$18.6M
Permit volume decreased 30% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.9%
Carpool
6.9%
Public Transit
0.7%
Walk
1.0%
Work from Home
12.8%
Other
0.7%
Based on 4,546 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Wisconsin statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Wisconsin at $225 (electricity about $100 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Wisconsin statewide averages, not a meter reading for Altoona. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Wisconsin's BEA cost-of-living index is 94.1 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Altoona is $1,097/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Wisconsin statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 59.1 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Wisconsin statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Altoona sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Altoona compares to similar-size Wisconsin 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, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.