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Place dossier plate
SheetWI-SUPERIOR-WI · Superior, WI 26,550 pop · income 40th pct · 15 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 Superior
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Superior on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Mansión del M… · lowest
37,256
Mansión del M… · lowest
37,256 median HH income
21.8% of the leader · rank #1
Hughesville · near
63,409
Hughesville · near
63,409 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #2
Superior · this city
63,415
Superior · this city
63,415 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #3
Florida · near
63,417
Florida · near
63,417 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #4
Lancaster · near
63,421
Lancaster · near
63,421 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #5
North Lauderd… · near
63,423
North Lauderd… · near
63,423 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #6
West Islip · highest
171,045
West Islip · highest
171,045 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 Superior 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: 26,550.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Superior - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Superior lands in the 40th percentile for household income and the 24th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
40th
percentile, household income
33rd
percentile, home value
29th
percentile, median rent
24th
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: Superior, WI
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 26,550 residents in Superior, a small city within Wisconsin. Superior households earn a median of $63,415 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.2%. Typical homes in Superior are valued around $168,500, and the median resident age is 38.9 years. Educational attainment runs 28.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 63.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 1 residential building permits were authorized in Superior (Construction Slowdown), down 91% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 2424.9 crimes per 100,000 residents, near the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 41.4°F with 31.4 inches of precipitation per year and 56.0 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Wisconsin run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Wisconsin at 94.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). 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). Commute times here average 15.3 minutes, with 74.3% driving alone and 7.0% 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 Superior'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 climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist to reported crime to work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households to population change to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Superior, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What physical conditions frame life in Superior?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 41.4°F, with 31.4 inches of precipitation and 56.0 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.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Superior?
Within Wisconsin, the closest population matches are Neenah (27,409 residents, $73,880 income); Stevens Point (25,497 residents, $56,218 income); Mount Pleasant (27,694 residents, $90,189 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Edwardsville, IL (26,543 residents); West Islip, NY (26,559 residents); Marysville, OH (26,540 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Superior?
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 2424.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 6% higher 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 15 Census tracts to this city.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Superior?
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 74.3%. The reported mean trip to work is 15.3 minutes.
Public transit
1.2%
Work from home
7.0%
Drive alone
74.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 13,813 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Superior?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.2%, 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.
Household income
$63,415
Home value
$168,500
Value / income
2.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
The NCES join finds 9 public schools within the city match. 28.7% 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
9
Bachelor's degree+
28.7%
Poverty estimate
7.2%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Superior growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -404 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 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
-1.5%
2025 estimate
26,397
2020 estimate
26,801
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 7.2% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Wisconsin average
C-
City profile score · Superior, WI
51/100
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 C
28.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate C-
7.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime D
220 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income D
$63,415
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Superior profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 68/100 (B-) · 94.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 56/100 (C) · 28.7%
Poverty rate: 51/100 (C-) · 7.2%
Violent crime: 45/100 (D) · 220 /100k
Household income: 40/100 (D) · $63,415
Where Superior sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Superior'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 - Superior highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Superior, WI (this city): home $168,500, crime 2,425/100k
Edwardsville, IL : home $286,700, crime 713/100k
Marysville, OH : home $271,000, crime 1,181/100k
Jenks, OK : home $285,600, crime 1,304/100k
Tumwater, WA : home $438,000, crime 2,274/100k
Neenah, WI : home $194,700, crime 1,299/100k
Stevens Point, WI : home $189,700, crime 783/100k
Mount Pleasant, WI : home $269,900, crime 1,846/100k
De Pere, WI : home $253,900, crime 644/100k
Caledonia, WI : home $279,400, crime 533/100k
Mequon, WI : home $485,300, crime 598/100k
How does Superior compare to other US cities?
Here's how Superior stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income40% higher than other cities
Home value33% pricier than other cities
Median rent29% pricier than other cities
Safety24% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Wisconsin and the picture shifts: Superior ranks #186 of 202 Wisconsin cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Superior 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 Superior near the bottom of Wisconsin's cities
Among the 761 Wisconsin cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Superior ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Superior only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#459 of 753
39th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 761
0th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Home Value
#413 of 754
45th percentile in Wisconsin
Poverty Rate
#284 of 761
62nd percentile in Wisconsin
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#225 of 761
70th 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
40th percentile nationally for median household income · 24th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Superior's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Superior'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 Superior's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$168,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 67% 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
Superior's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,807 of 15,516
More affordable than 69% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#503 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.7×, Superior sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,807 of 15,516 and #503 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$63,415Superior, WI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Superior, 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 Superior, WI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
26,550
Median Income
$63,415
Median Home Value
$168,500
Median Age
38.9
Poverty Rate
7.2%
Labor force participation
63.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2424.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
220.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2204.5
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
41.4°F
Annual Precipitation
31.4"
Annual Snowfall
56.0"
Schools
Total Schools
9
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Superior's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
26,801 residents
2021
26,501 residents
2022
26,762 residents
2023
26,632 residents
2024
26,455 residents
2025
26,397 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2022
11
9
2
$3.0M
2023
11
11
0
$3.5M
2024
1
1
0
$0.3M
Permit volume decreased 91% from 2022 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
15.3 minutes
Drive Alone
74.3%
Carpool
11.4%
Public Transit
1.2%
Walk
5.6%
Work from Home
7.0%
Based on 13,813 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 Superior. 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 Superior 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 Superior sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Superior 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.