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Place dossier plate
SheetWI-SHAWANO-WI · Shawano, WI 9,236 pop · income 30th pct · 11 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 Shawano
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Shawano on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Brooksville · lowest
47,796
Brooksville · lowest
47,796 median HH income
27.3% of the leader · rank #1
Shawano · this city
56,457
Shawano · this city
56,457 median HH income
32.2% of the leader · rank #2
Sulphur Sprin… · near
56,457
Sulphur Sprin… · near
56,457 median HH income
32.2% of the leader · rank #3
Beaverton · near
56,458
Beaverton · near
56,458 median HH income
32.2% of the leader · rank #4
Fayetteville · near
56,458
Fayetteville · near
56,458 median HH income
32.2% of the leader · rank #5
Kell · near
56,458
Kell · near
56,458 median HH income
32.2% of the leader · rank #6
Palm Beach · highest
175,078
Palm Beach · highest
175,078 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 Shawano 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: 9,236.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Shawano - the verdict
Shawano ranks in the 30th percentile for household income and the 49th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
30th
percentile, household income
20th
percentile, home value
29th
percentile, median rent
49th
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: Shawano, WI
9,236 people live in Shawano, Wisconsin - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Shawano report a median income of $56,457 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 16.4%. Home values in Shawano run a median of $127,200, and the median resident age is 38.3 years. Educational attainment runs 21.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 55.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 16 residential building permits were authorized in Shawano (Building Boom), up 300% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Shawano reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1418.4 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 puts Shawano's yearly average temperature at 43.9°F with 33.1 inches of precipitation per year and 47.9 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. 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. Commute times here average 14.6 minutes, with 79.4% driving alone and 6.9% 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 Shawano'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 work and mobility to reported crime to climate and hazard context to schools and households to within-city variation to population change to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Shawano, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Shawano?
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 79.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 14.6 minutes.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Shawano?
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 1418.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 38% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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 11 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Shawano?
Within Wisconsin, the closest population matches are McFarland (9,230 residents, $93,810 income); Merrill (9,224 residents, $49,947 income); St. Francis (9,318 residents, $58,490 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Brooksville, FL (9,235 residents); Conshohocken, PA (9,235 residents); Palm Beach, FL (9,234 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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Shawano?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 43.9°F, with 33.1 inches of precipitation and 47.9 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.
Mean temperature
43.9°F
Annual precipitation
33.1 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
59.1
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 21.1% 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
5
Bachelor's degree+
21.1%
Poverty estimate
16.4%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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 +449 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 16 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
+4.9%
2025 estimate
9,693
2020 estimate
9,244
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Shawano?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 16.4%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
Household income
$56,457
Home value
$127,200
Value / income
2.3×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 16.4% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Wisconsin average
D
City profile score · Shawano, WI
40/100
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.
Violent crime D
217 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
21.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$56,457
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
16.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Shawano profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 68/100 (B-) · 94.1 index
Violent crime: 45/100 (D) · 217 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 38/100 (F) · 21.1%
Household income: 29/100 (F) · $56,457
Poverty rate: 20/100 (F) · 16.4%
Where Shawano sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Shawano'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 - Shawano highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Shawano, WI (this city): home $127,200, crime 1,418/100k
Brooksville, FL : home $112,400, crime 2,439/100k
Conshohocken, PA : home $414,700, crime 1,275/100k
Palm Beach, FL : home $1,996,700, crime 1,447/100k
Plymouth, MI : home $418,200, crime 1,023/100k
Sugar Grove, IL : home $372,000, crime 359/100k
McFarland, WI : home $363,400, crime 885/100k
Merrill, WI : home $113,200, crime 2,621/100k
St. Francis, WI : home $207,200, crime 1,271/100k
Rice Lake, WI : home $178,100, crime 1,589/100k
Tomah, WI : home $162,900, crime 2,050/100k
How does Shawano compare to other US cities?
Here's how Shawano stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income30% higher than other cities
Home value20% pricier than other cities
Median rent29% pricier than other cities
Safety49% 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, Shawano ranks #142 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 Shawano 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 Shawano near the bottom of Wisconsin's cities
Among the 761 Wisconsin cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Shawano ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Shawano only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#577 of 753
23rd percentile in Wisconsin
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 761
0th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Home Value
#605 of 754
20th percentile in Wisconsin
Poverty Rate
#73 of 761
90th percentile in Wisconsin
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#385 of 761
49th 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
30th percentile nationally for median household income · 49th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Shawano's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Shawano'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 Shawano's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$127,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 80% 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
Shawano's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,723 of 15,516
More affordable than 82% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,529 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.3×, Shawano sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,723 of 15,516 and #2,529 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$56,457Shawano, WI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Shawano, 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 Shawano, WI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
9,236
Median Income
$56,457
Median Home Value
$127,200
Median Age
38.3
Poverty Rate
16.4%
Labor force participation
55.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1418.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
216.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1201.8
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
43.9°F
Annual Precipitation
33.1"
Annual Snowfall
47.9"
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Shawano's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
9,244 residents
2021
9,524 residents
2022
9,534 residents
2023
9,612 residents
2024
9,668 residents
2025
9,693 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
16
housing units authorized
Single-Family
10
detached homes
Multifamily
6
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
4
2
2
$0.8M
2020
14
8
6
$2.5M
2021
11
11
0
$3.2M
2022
11
9
2
$2.9M
2023
10
6
4
$2.9M
2024
16
10
6
$4.7M
Permit volume increased 300% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
14.6 minutes
Drive Alone
79.4%
Carpool
4.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.9%
Work from Home
6.9%
Other
7.1%
Based on 4,215 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 Shawano. 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 Shawano 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 Shawano sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Shawano 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.