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Place dossier plate
SheetWI-FITCHBURG-WI · Fitchburg, WI 31,566 pop · income 67th 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 Fitchburg
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Fitchburg on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Shawnee · lowest
54,281
Shawnee · lowest
54,281 median HH income
39.3% of the leader · rank #1
Hardin · near
85,417
Hardin · near
85,417 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #2
Liberty · near
85,417
Liberty · near
85,417 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #3
Maples · near
85,417
Maples · near
85,417 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #4
Fitchburg · this city
85,420
Fitchburg · this city
85,420 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #5
Cockeysville · near
85,422
Cockeysville · near
85,422 median HH income
61.9% of the leader · rank #6
Bel Air North · highest
137,995
Bel Air North · highest
137,995 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 Fitchburg 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: 31,566.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Fitchburg - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Fitchburg lands in the 67th percentile for household income and the 42nd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
67th
percentile, household income
76th
percentile, home value
29th
percentile, median rent
42nd
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: Fitchburg, WI
31,566 people live in Fitchburg, Wisconsin - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $85,420 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 5.4%. Fitchburg's housing stock carries a median value of $389,400, and the median resident age is 34.7 years. About 57.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 71.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 403 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 607% from five years earlier. Fitchburg reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1616.4 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,097 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Wisconsin run around $225, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Fitchburg report an average commute of 17.5 minutes, with 72.0% driving alone and 13.7% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 59.1 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Fitchburg'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 comparison shortlist to population change to reported crime to schools and households to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Fitchburg, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates.
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. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Fitchburg?
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 West Bend (31,722 residents, $75,043 income); Manitowoc (34,553 residents, $62,133 income); Mount Pleasant (27,694 residents, $90,189 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are New Bern, NC (31,563 residents); Lakeside, FL (31,548 residents); Bel Air North, MD (31,599 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.
Is Fitchburg growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +3,317 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +10.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 403 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Fitchburg?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1616.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 29% 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.
What does the education layer cover for Fitchburg?
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 3 public schools within the city match. 57.0% 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.
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 Fitchburg?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 72.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.5 minutes.
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
72.0%
Work from home
13.7%
Public transit
0.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 18,651 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Fitchburg?
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.6×
Home value
$389,400
Household income
$85,420
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above median income · poverty 5.4% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Wisconsin average
C+
City profile score · Fitchburg, WI
63/100
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 A+
57.0%
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.
Household income B-
$85,420
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate C+
5.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
275 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Fitchburg profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 90/100 (A+) · 57.0%
Cost of living: 68/100 (B-) · 94.1 index
Household income: 65/100 (B-) · $85,420
Poverty rate: 63/100 (C+) · 5.4%
Violent crime: 37/100 (F) · 275 /100k
Where Fitchburg sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Fitchburg'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 - Fitchburg highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Fitchburg, WI (this city): home $389,400, crime 1,616/100k
New Bern, NC : home $211,500, crime 1,979/100k
Shawnee, OK : home $147,800, crime 3,344/100k
Nicholasville, KY : home $210,700, crime 1,610/100k
West Bend, WI : home $244,500, crime 1,409/100k
Manitowoc, WI : home $143,900, crime 1,178/100k
Mount Pleasant, WI : home $269,900, crime 1,846/100k
Neenah, WI : home $194,700, crime 1,299/100k
Franklin, WI : home $343,400, crime 1,258/100k
Sun Prairie, WI : home $339,800, crime 1,594/100k
How does Fitchburg compare to other US cities?
Here's how Fitchburg stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income67% higher than other cities
Home value76% pricier than other cities
Median rent29% pricier than other cities
Safety42% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Wisconsin alone, Fitchburg ranks #153 of 202 Wisconsin cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Fitchburg 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 Fitchburg near the bottom of Wisconsin's cities
Among the 761 Wisconsin cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Fitchburg ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Fitchburg only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#184 of 753
76th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 761
0th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Home Value
#40 of 754
95th percentile in Wisconsin
Poverty Rate
#375 of 761
50th percentile in Wisconsin
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#36 of 761
95th 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
67th percentile nationally for median household income · 42nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Fitchburg's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Fitchburg'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 Fitchburg's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$389,40024th percentilemore affordable than 24% 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
Fitchburg's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,099 of 15,516
More affordable than 22% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,387 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.6×, Fitchburg sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,099 of 15,516 and #2,387 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$85,420Fitchburg, WI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Fitchburg, 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 Fitchburg, WI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)57.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)71.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
31,566
Median Income
$85,420
Median Home Value
$389,400
Median Age
34.7
Poverty Rate
5.4%
Labor force participation
71.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
57.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1616.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
275.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1341.4
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
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Fitchburg's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
31,298 residents
2021
31,651 residents
2022
32,311 residents
2023
33,404 residents
2024
34,207 residents
2025
34,615 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
403
housing units authorized
Single-Family
96
detached homes
Multifamily
307
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
12.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
57
53
4
$14.9M
2020
714
112
602
$123.2M
2021
371
125
246
$87.4M
2022
169
111
58
$54.2M
2023
487
85
402
$98.9M
2024
403
96
307
$86.9M
Permit volume increased 607% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.5 minutes
Drive Alone
72.0%
Carpool
7.1%
Public Transit
0.4%
Walk
4.2%
Work from Home
13.7%
Other
2.6%
Based on 18,651 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 Fitchburg. 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 Fitchburg 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 Fitchburg sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Fitchburg 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.