Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetWI-RESERVE-WI · Reserve, WI 270 pop · income 6th 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 Reserve
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Reserve on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Monterey · lowest
36,866
Monterey · lowest
36,866 median HH income
22.2% of the leader · rank #1
Whiteriver · near
38,205
Whiteriver · near
38,205 median HH income
23.0% of the leader · rank #2
Marfa · near
38,205
Marfa · near
38,205 median HH income
23.0% of the leader · rank #3
Reserve · this city
38,214
Reserve · this city
38,214 median HH income
23.0% of the leader · rank #4
Gretna · near
38,214
Gretna · near
38,214 median HH income
23.0% of the leader · rank #5
Marion · near
38,221
Marion · near
38,221 median HH income
23.0% of the leader · rank #6
Mount Carmel · highest
165,865
Mount Carmel · highest
165,865 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Reserve on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 270.
Reserve ranks in the 6th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
6th
percentile, household income
48th
percentile, home value
29th
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Reserve, WI
Wisconsin's Reserve is a small town, with 270 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Reserve report a median income of $38,214 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 20.7%. Reserve's housing stock carries a median value of $218,200, and the median resident age is 58.5 years. Educational attainment runs 15.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 40.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Wisconsin run around $225, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Reserve'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 housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Reserve, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Reserve?
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.
Within Wisconsin, the closest population matches are Bear Creek (271 residents, $63,750 income); Friesland (269 residents, $76,818 income); Burnett (268 residents, $85,104 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Mount Carmel, FL (270 residents); Elk, ID (270 residents); Kampsville, IL (270 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Reserve?
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 5.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 20.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the journey to work look like in Reserve?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 66.0%. 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 20.7% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Wisconsin average
F
City profile score · Reserve, WI
25/100
4 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
15.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
20.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$38,214
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Reserve profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 68/100 (B-) · 94.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 20/100 (F) · 15.0%
Poverty rate: 12/100 (F) · 20.7%
Household income: 4/100 (F) · $38,214
How does Reserve compare to other US cities?
Where Reserve sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income6% higher than other cities
Home value48% pricier than other cities
Median rent29% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Reserve 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 Reserve near the bottom of Wisconsin's cities
Among the 761 Wisconsin cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Reserve ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Reserve only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#735 of 753
2nd percentile in Wisconsin
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 761
0th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Home Value
#255 of 754
66th percentile in Wisconsin
Poverty Rate
#38 of 761
95th percentile in Wisconsin
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#519 of 761
32nd 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
6th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Reserve's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$218,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 52% 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
Reserve's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,822 of 15,516
More affordable than 11% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,301 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.7×, Reserve sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,822 of 15,516 and #10,301 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$38,214Reserve, WI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Reserve, 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 Reserve, WI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)15.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)20.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)40.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
270
Median Income
$38,214
Median Home Value
$218,200
Median Age
58.5
Poverty Rate
20.7%
Labor force participation
40.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
15.0%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
66.0%
Carpool
8.2%
Public Transit
11.3%
Walk
6.2%
Work from Home
8.2%
Based on 97 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 Reserve. 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 Reserve 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 Reserve sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Reserve 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, 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.