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Place dossier plate
SheetWI-STURGEON-BAY-WI · Sturgeon Bay, WI 9,702 pop · income 30th pct · 6 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 Sturgeon Bay
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sturgeon Bay on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
New Square · lowest
28,880
New Square · lowest
28,880 median HH income
25.4% of the leader · rank #1
Big Lagoon · near
56,875
Big Lagoon · near
56,875 median HH income
50.1% of the leader · rank #2
Grants Pass · near
56,877
Grants Pass · near
56,877 median HH income
50.1% of the leader · rank #3
Sturgeon Bay · this city
56,882
Sturgeon Bay · this city
56,882 median HH income
50.1% of the leader · rank #4
Waite Park · near
56,884
Waite Park · near
56,884 median HH income
50.1% of the leader · rank #5
Bellair-Meado… · near
56,887
Bellair-Meado… · near
56,887 median HH income
50.1% of the leader · rank #6
McCordsville · highest
113,495
McCordsville · highest
113,495 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 Sturgeon Bay 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: 9,702.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Sturgeon Bay - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Sturgeon Bay places in the 30th percentile for household income and the 75th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
30th
percentile, household income
48th
percentile, home value
29th
percentile, median rent
75th
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: Sturgeon Bay, WI
Sturgeon Bay is a small town in Wisconsin, home to 9,702 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $56,882 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.2%. Typical homes in Sturgeon Bay are valued around $217,600, and the median resident age is 46.8 years. Educational attainment runs 27.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 59.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 30 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 80% from five years earlier. Sturgeon Bay reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 745.4 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: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Wisconsin scores 94.1 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,097 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Wisconsin's average monthly utility costs around $225 (state average). 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 Sturgeon Bay'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 within-city variation to schools and households to population change to housing and income to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Sturgeon Bay, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Sturgeon Bay?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.7%. 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Sturgeon Bay?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 745.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 67% 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 can 6 Census tracts reveal inside Sturgeon Bay?
PlainCities matches 6 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Sturgeon Bay?
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 Hartland (9,716 residents, $87,297 income); Tomah (9,505 residents, $51,185 income); Sparta (9,921 residents, $60,517 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are McCordsville, IN (9,700 residents); Croydon, PA (9,704 residents); Lambertville, MI (9,708 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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Sturgeon Bay?
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 8 public schools within the city match. 27.9% 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
6.2%
Bachelor's degree+
27.9%
Matched public schools
8
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Sturgeon Bay growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +247 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 30 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.
2020 estimate
9,670
2025 estimate
9,917
Period change
+2.6%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Sturgeon Bay?
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 3.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.8×
Home value
$217,600
Household income
$56,882
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 6.2% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Wisconsin average
C
City profile score · Sturgeon Bay, WI
55/100
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.
Violent crime B
91 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
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.
Poverty rate C
6.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C-
27.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$56,882
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Sturgeon Bay profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 73/100 (B) · 91 /100k
Cost of living: 68/100 (B-) · 94.1 index
Poverty rate: 58/100 (C) · 6.2%
Bachelor's+ share: 54/100 (C-) · 27.9%
Household income: 30/100 (F) · $56,882
Where Sturgeon Bay sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Sturgeon Bay'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 - Sturgeon Bay highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Sturgeon Bay, WI (this city): home $217,600, crime 745/100k
McCordsville, IN : home $327,900, crime 1,032/100k
Morehead City, NC : home $330,900, crime 3,434/100k
South Amboy, NJ : home $365,000, crime 1,531/100k
Hartland, WI : home $358,000, crime 409/100k
Tomah, WI : home $162,900, crime 2,050/100k
Sparta, WI : home $168,800, crime 3,446/100k
Reedsburg, WI : home $218,300, crime 2,011/100k
St. Francis, WI : home $207,200, crime 1,271/100k
Shawano, WI : home $127,200, crime 1,418/100k
How does Sturgeon Bay compare to other US cities?
Sturgeon Bay measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income30% higher than other cities
Home value48% pricier than other cities
Median rent29% pricier than other cities
Safety75% 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, Sturgeon Bay ranks #81 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 Sturgeon Bay 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 Sturgeon Bay near the bottom of Wisconsin's cities
Among the 761 Wisconsin cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sturgeon Bay ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sturgeon Bay only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#566 of 753
25th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 761
0th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Home Value
#258 of 754
66th percentile in Wisconsin
Poverty Rate
#346 of 761
54th percentile in Wisconsin
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#239 of 761
68th 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 · 75th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Sturgeon Bay's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Sturgeon Bay'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 Sturgeon Bay's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$217,600Among 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
Sturgeon Bay's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,148 of 15,516
More affordable than 35% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,013 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.8×, Sturgeon Bay sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,148 of 15,516 and #8,013 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$56,882Sturgeon Bay, WI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sturgeon Bay, 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 Sturgeon Bay, WI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)27.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
9,702
Median Income
$56,882
Median Home Value
$217,600
Median Age
46.8
Poverty Rate
6.2%
Labor force participation
59.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
27.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
745.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
90.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
654.7
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
Sturgeon Bay's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
9,670 residents
2021
9,733 residents
2022
9,880 residents
2023
9,942 residents
2024
9,962 residents
2025
9,917 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
30
housing units authorized
Single-Family
26
detached homes
Multifamily
4
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2022
150
22
128
$20.2M
2023
87
18
69
$11.4M
2024
30
26
4
$20.7M
Permit volume decreased 80% from 2022 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.7%
Carpool
7.2%
Public Transit
0.3%
Walk
4.1%
Work from Home
10.3%
Other
1.4%
Based on 4,899 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 Sturgeon Bay. 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 Sturgeon Bay 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 Sturgeon Bay sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sturgeon Bay 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.