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Place dossier plate
SheetWI-HUDSON-WI · Hudson, WI 15,004 pop · income 76th pct · 18 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 Hudson
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hudson on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Macomb · lowest
39,753
Macomb · lowest
39,753 median HH income
25.8% of the leader · rank #1
New Baltimore · near
97,027
New Baltimore · near
97,027 median HH income
62.9% of the leader · rank #2
Stafford Cour… · near
97,030
Stafford Cour… · near
97,030 median HH income
62.9% of the leader · rank #3
Valley Springs · near
97,031
Valley Springs · near
97,031 median HH income
62.9% of the leader · rank #4
Hudson · this city
97,036
Hudson · this city
97,036 median HH income
62.9% of the leader · rank #5
Venus · near
97,039
Venus · near
97,039 median HH income
62.9% of the leader · rank #6
Whitefish Bay · highest
154,255
Whitefish Bay · highest
154,255 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 Hudson 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: 15,004.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Hudson - the verdict
Nationally, Hudson sits in the 76th percentile for household income and the 38th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
76th
percentile, household income
73rd
percentile, home value
29th
percentile, median rent
38th
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: Hudson, WI
15,004 people live in Hudson, Wisconsin - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Hudson brings in $97,036 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 9.7%. Hudson's housing stock carries a median value of $355,000, and the median resident age is 37.6 years. About 45.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 68.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 50 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Slowing), down 7% from five years earlier. Hudson reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1762.8 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. 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. Workers in Hudson report an average commute of 19.6 minutes, with 75.9% driving alone and 15.2% 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 Hudson'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 housing and income to reported crime to schools and households to within-city variation to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Hudson, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Population change
Is Hudson growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +197 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 50 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
How far does income reach against housing in Hudson?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.7%, 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.
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 18 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Hudson?
Within Wisconsin, the closest population matches are Waunakee (14,927 residents, $128,750 income); Whitefish Bay (14,750 residents, $154,255 income); Greendale (14,656 residents, $95,015 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Pacific Grove, CA (15,003 residents); Macomb, IL (15,006 residents); Gloversville, NY (15,010 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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Hudson?
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 1762.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 23% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1648.2
Violent rate
114.5
Total reported rate
1762.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
The NCES join finds 8 public schools within the city match. 45.8% 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.
Matched public schools
8
Bachelor's degree+
45.8%
Poverty estimate
9.7%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Hudson?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.9%. The reported mean trip to work is 19.6 minutes.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
15.2%
Drive alone
75.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 8,302 workers age 16+.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Wisconsin average
B-
City profile score · Hudson, WI
66/100
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-
45.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B+
$97,036
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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.
Violent crime B-
115 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate D
9.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Hudson profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 80/100 (A-) · 45.8%
Household income: 76/100 (B+) · $97,036
Cost of living: 68/100 (B-) · 94.1 index
Violent crime: 67/100 (B-) · 115 /100k
Poverty rate: 41/100 (D) · 9.7%
Where Hudson sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Hudson'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 - Hudson highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Hudson, WI (this city): home $355,000, crime 1,763/100k
Pacific Grove, CA : home $1,129,400, crime 1,051/100k
Gloversville, NY : home $95,500, crime 1,598/100k
Susanville, CA : home $234,000, crime 1,838/100k
Waunakee, WI : home $490,300, crime 315/100k
Whitefish Bay, WI : home $498,700, crime 949/100k
Greendale, WI : home $289,600, crime 1,023/100k
Chippewa Falls, WI : home $194,800, crime 889/100k
Verona, WI : home $382,800, crime 712/100k
How does Hudson compare to other US cities?
Hudson measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income76% higher than other cities
Home value73% pricier than other cities
Median rent29% pricier than other cities
Safety38% 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, Hudson ranks #162 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 Hudson 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 Hudson near the bottom of Wisconsin's cities
Among the 761 Wisconsin cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hudson ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hudson only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#93 of 753
88th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 761
0th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Home Value
#60 of 754
92nd percentile in Wisconsin
Poverty Rate
#189 of 761
74th percentile in Wisconsin
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#69 of 761
91st 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
76th percentile nationally for median household income · 38th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Hudson's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Hudson'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 Hudson's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$355,00027th percentilemore affordable than 27% 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
Hudson's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,568 of 15,516
More affordable than 38% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,642 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.7×, Hudson sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,568 of 15,516 and #1,642 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
$97,036Hudson, WI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hudson, 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 Hudson, WI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)45.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)68.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
15,004
Median Income
$97,036
Median Home Value
$355,000
Median Age
37.6
Poverty Rate
9.7%
Labor force participation
68.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
45.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1762.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
114.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1648.2
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
8
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Hudson's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
14,822 residents
2021
14,839 residents
2022
15,089 residents
2023
15,032 residents
2024
14,973 residents
2025
15,019 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
50
housing units authorized
Single-Family
14
detached homes
Multifamily
36
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
54
43
11
$16.6M
2020
239
52
187
$38.5M
2021
60
52
8
$16.5M
2022
182
7
175
$29.8M
2023
16
16
0
$6.6M
2024
50
14
36
$15.2M
Permit volume decreased 7% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
19.6 minutes
Drive Alone
75.9%
Carpool
6.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.9%
Work from Home
15.2%
Other
1.0%
Based on 8,302 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 Hudson. 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 Hudson 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 Hudson sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hudson 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.