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Place dossier plate
SheetWI-APPLETON-WI · Appleton, WI 74,873 pop · income 59th pct · 47 tracts
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 Appleton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Appleton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Racine · lowest
55,705
Racine · lowest
55,705 median HH income
46.0% of the leader · rank #1
Henryville · near
77,440
Henryville · near
77,440 median HH income
64.0% of the leader · rank #2
Rosharon · near
77,443
Rosharon · near
77,443 median HH income
64.0% of the leader · rank #3
Appleton · this city
77,450
Appleton · this city
77,450 median HH income
64.0% of the leader · rank #4
Thatcher · near
77,455
Thatcher · near
77,455 median HH income
64.0% of the leader · rank #5
Country Club… · near
77,463
Country Club… · near
77,463 median HH income
64.0% of the leader · rank #6
Broomfield · highest
121,025
Broomfield · highest
121,025 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 Appleton 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: 74,873.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Appleton - the verdict
Appleton ranks in the 59th percentile for household income and the 44th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
59th
percentile, household income
46th
percentile, home value
29th
percentile, median rent
44th
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: Appleton, WI
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 74,873 residents in Appleton, a small city within Wisconsin. Appleton households earn a median of $77,450 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 5.5%. Appleton's housing stock carries a median value of $211,500, and the median resident age is 36.9 years. Educational attainment runs 37.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 66.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 131 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Rapid Growth), up 47% from five years earlier. Appleton reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1548.5 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 45.6°F with 33.1 inches of precipitation per year and 49.4 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Wisconsin run below the national norm: the state registers 94.1 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,097 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $225 across Wisconsin, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Appleton'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 climate and hazard context to schools and households to work and mobility to housing and income to within-city variation to population change to comparison shortlist to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Appleton, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What physical conditions frame life in Appleton?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 45.6°F, with 33.1 inches of precipitation and 49.4 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Wisconsin is 59.1 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
The NCES join finds 39 public schools within the city match. 37.0% 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.
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.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 47 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Appleton?
Within Wisconsin, the closest population matches are Racine (77,155 residents, $55,705 income); Waukesha (70,779 residents, $81,651 income); Eau Claire (69,274 residents, $65,369 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Rock Hill, SC (74,769 residents); Broomfield, CO (75,110 residents); Missouri City, TX (75,234 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.
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.
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 Appleton?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.0%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.6%
Work from home
11.2%
Drive alone
75.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 39,479 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Appleton?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
Household income
$77,450
Home value
$211,500
Value / income
2.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is Appleton growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -131 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 131 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
-0.2%
2025 estimate
75,452
2020 estimate
75,583
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Appleton?
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 joined FBI UCR record reports 1548.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 32% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1346.9
Violent rate
201.6
Total reported rate
1548.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Above median income · poverty 5.5% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Wisconsin average
C+
City profile score · Appleton, WI
60/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share B
37.0%
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.
Poverty rate C+
5.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C
$77,450
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime D
202 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Appleton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 70/100 (B) · 37.0%
Cost of living: 68/100 (B-) · 94.1 index
Poverty rate: 62/100 (C+) · 5.5%
Household income: 57/100 (C) · $77,450
Violent crime: 47/100 (D) · 202 /100k
Where Appleton sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Appleton'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 - Appleton highlighted among 13 peers.Read the chart values
Appleton, WI (this city): home $211,500, crime 1,549/100k
Rock Hill, SC : home $267,400, crime 2,789/100k
Broomfield, CO : home $631,600, crime 2,004/100k
Missouri City, TX : home $281,600, crime 1,191/100k
Iowa City, IA : home $273,600, crime 1,995/100k
Pawtucket, RI : home $286,200, crime 1,819/100k
Mansfield, TX : home $380,000, crime 1,475/100k
Racine, WI : home $158,100, crime 1,495/100k
Waukesha, WI : home $286,600, crime 989/100k
Eau Claire, WI : home $228,000, crime 2,068/100k
Oshkosh, WI : home $168,400, crime 1,684/100k
Janesville, WI : home $209,700, crime 1,985/100k
West Allis, WI : home $191,700, crime 2,234/100k
How does Appleton compare to other US cities?
Where Appleton sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income59% higher than other cities
Home value46% pricier than other cities
Median rent29% pricier than other cities
Safety44% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Wisconsin, Appleton ranks #150 of 202 Wisconsin cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Appleton 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 Appleton near the bottom of Wisconsin's cities
Among the 761 Wisconsin cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Appleton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Appleton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#264 of 753
65th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 761
0th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Home Value
#271 of 754
64th percentile in Wisconsin
Poverty Rate
#370 of 761
51st percentile in Wisconsin
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#131 of 761
83rd 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
59th percentile nationally for median household income · 44th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Appleton's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Appleton'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 Appleton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$211,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 54% 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
Appleton's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,203 of 15,516
More affordable than 66% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#71 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 2.7×, Appleton sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,203 of 15,516 and #71 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
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
$77,450Appleton, WI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Appleton, 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 Appleton, WI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)37.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
74,873
Median Income
$77,450
Median Home Value
$211,500
Median Age
36.9
Poverty Rate
5.5%
Labor force participation
66.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
37.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1548.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
201.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1346.9
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
45.6°F
Annual Precipitation
33.1"
Annual Snowfall
49.4"
Schools
Total Schools
39
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Appleton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
75,583 residents
2021
74,977 residents
2022
74,910 residents
2023
75,077 residents
2024
75,244 residents
2025
75,452 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
131
housing units authorized
Single-Family
129
detached homes
Multifamily
2
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
89
54
35
$22.5M
2020
104
76
28
$29.7M
2021
121
97
24
$42.1M
2022
142
108
34
$56.0M
2023
98
96
2
$40.8M
2024
131
129
2
$64.1M
Permit volume increased 47% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
75.0%
Carpool
9.0%
Public Transit
0.6%
Walk
2.7%
Work from Home
11.2%
Other
1.5%
Based on 39,479 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 Appleton. 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 Appleton 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 Appleton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Appleton 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.