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Place dossier plate
SheetWI-RACINE-WI · Racine, WI 77,155 pop · income 28th 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 Racine
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Racine on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hammond · lowest
53,950
Hammond · lowest
53,950 median HH income
40.9% of the leader · rank #1
Ochelata · near
55,703
Ochelata · near
55,703 median HH income
42.2% of the leader · rank #2
Racine · this city
55,705
Racine · this city
55,705 median HH income
42.2% of the leader · rank #3
Hurlock · near
55,705
Hurlock · near
55,705 median HH income
42.2% of the leader · rank #4
Robertsdale · near
55,707
Robertsdale · near
55,707 median HH income
42.2% of the leader · rank #5
Burnham · near
55,708
Burnham · near
55,708 median HH income
42.2% of the leader · rank #6
Alameda · highest
132,015
Alameda · highest
132,015 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 Racine 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: 77,155.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Racine - the verdict
Nationally, Racine sits in the 28th percentile for household income and the 46th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
28th
percentile, household income
29th
percentile, home value
29th
percentile, median rent
46th
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: Racine, WI
Racine is a small city in Wisconsin, home to 77,155 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $55,705 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 13.4%. Typical homes in Racine are valued around $158,100, and the median resident age is 35.6 years. 21.5% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 59.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 10 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 150% from five years earlier. Racine reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1495.2 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 47.0°F with 37.0 inches of precipitation per year and 41.0 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Wisconsin run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Wisconsin scores 94.1 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,097 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Wisconsin run around $225, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Commute times here average 21.1 minutes, with 75.5% driving alone and 6.0% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 59.1 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Racine'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 within-city variation to work and mobility to reported crime to climate and hazard context to housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Racine, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can 47 Census tracts reveal inside Racine?
PlainCities matches 47 Census tracts to this city.
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.
What does the journey to work look like in Racine?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 21.1 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Racine?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1495.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 34% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Racine?
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 Appleton (74,873 residents, $77,450 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 Hammond, IN (77,098 residents); Bethlehem, PA (77,069 residents); Loveland, CO (77,350 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.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Racine?
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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 47.0°F, with 37.0 inches of precipitation and 41.0 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
59.1
Annual precipitation
37.0 in
Mean temperature
47.0°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
How far does income reach against housing in Racine?
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 13.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.8×
Home value
$158,100
Household income
$55,705
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -259 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 10 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
2020 estimate
78,167
2025 estimate
77,908
Period change
-0.3%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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 26 public schools within the city match. 21.5% 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.
Poverty estimate
13.4%
Bachelor's degree+
21.5%
Matched public schools
26
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 13.4% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Wisconsin average
F
City profile score · Racine, WI
36/100
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.
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
21.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$55,705
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
13.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
383 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Racine profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 68/100 (B-) · 94.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 39/100 (F) · 21.5%
Household income: 28/100 (F) · $55,705
Poverty rate: 26/100 (F) · 13.4%
Violent crime: 23/100 (F) · 383 /100k
Where Racine sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Racine'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 - Racine highlighted among 13 peers.Read the chart values
Racine, WI (this city): home $158,100, crime 1,495/100k
Hammond, IN : home $141,700, crime 3,814/100k
Bethlehem, PA : home $236,500, crime 1,575/100k
Loveland, CO : home $453,100, crime 2,333/100k
Woodbury, MN : home $434,900, crime 1,279/100k
Bellflower, CA : home $661,100, crime 2,783/100k
Alameda, CA : home $1,203,900, crime 5,231/100k
Appleton, WI : home $211,500, crime 1,549/100k
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 Racine compare to other US cities?
Where Racine sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income28% higher than other cities
Home value29% pricier than other cities
Median rent29% pricier than other cities
Safety46% 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, Racine ranks #147 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 Racine 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 Racine near the bottom of Wisconsin's cities
Among the 761 Wisconsin cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Racine ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Racine only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#591 of 753
22nd percentile in Wisconsin
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 761
0th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Home Value
#469 of 754
38th percentile in Wisconsin
Poverty Rate
#107 of 761
86th percentile in Wisconsin
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#379 of 761
50th 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
28th percentile nationally for median household income · 46th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Racine's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Racine'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 Racine's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$158,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 71% 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
Racine's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,796 of 15,516
More affordable than 63% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#91 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 2.8×, Racine sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,796 of 15,516 and #91 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
$55,705Racine, WI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Racine, 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 Racine, WI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
77,155
Median Income
$55,705
Median Home Value
$158,100
Median Age
35.6
Poverty Rate
13.4%
Labor force participation
59.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1495.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
383.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1112.2
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
47.0°F
Annual Precipitation
37.0"
Annual Snowfall
41.0"
Schools
Total Schools
26
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Racine's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
78,167 residents
2021
77,386 residents
2022
77,179 residents
2023
77,403 residents
2024
77,983 residents
2025
77,908 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
10
housing units authorized
Single-Family
8
detached homes
Multifamily
2
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
4
4
0
$0.8M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
8
8
0
$2.4M
2023
308
6
302
$82.4M
2024
10
8
2
$3.0M
Permit volume increased 150% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
21.1 minutes
Drive Alone
75.5%
Carpool
12.1%
Public Transit
1.9%
Walk
1.4%
Work from Home
6.0%
Other
3.1%
Based on 34,553 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 Racine. 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 Racine 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 Racine sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Racine 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.