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-WOODRUFF-WI · Woodruff, WI 550 pop · income 48th 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 Woodruff
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Woodruff on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Laona · lowest
39,688
Laona · lowest
39,688 median HH income
36.1% of the leader · rank #1
Tyler Run · near
68,783
Tyler Run · near
68,783 median HH income
62.5% of the leader · rank #2
Woodruff · this city
68,798
Woodruff · this city
68,798 median HH income
62.5% of the leader · rank #3
Prospect · near
68,807
Prospect · near
68,807 median HH income
62.6% of the leader · rank #4
Lake Viking · near
68,819
Lake Viking · near
68,819 median HH income
62.6% of the leader · rank #5
Bay Center · near
68,819
Bay Center · near
68,819 median HH income
62.6% of the leader · rank #6
Gibbsville · highest
110,000
Gibbsville · highest
110,000 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 Woodruff 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: 550.
Nationally, Woodruff sits in the 48th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
48th
percentile, household income
56th
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: Woodruff, WI
550 people live in Woodruff, Wisconsin - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Woodruff households earn a median of $68,798 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Home values in Woodruff run a median of $253,000, and the median resident age is 62.4 years. 27.6% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 53.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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). 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. 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 Woodruff'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 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 Woodruff, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Woodruff?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 66.3%. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Woodruff?
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 New Auburn (550 residents, $67,981 income); Laona (548 residents, $39,688 income); Gibbsville (557 residents, $110,000 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are La Paz Valley, AZ (550 residents); Olney Springs, CO (550 residents); Rhine, GA (550 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 Woodruff?
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 3.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Below median income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
94.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Wisconsin average
B-
City profile score · Woodruff, WI
67/100
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better 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.
Bachelor's+ share C-
27.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$68,798
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).
Woodruff profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Cost of living: 68/100 (B-) · 94.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 54/100 (C-) · 27.6%
Household income: 48/100 (D) · $68,798
How does Woodruff compare to other US cities?
Woodruff measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income48% higher than other cities
Home value56% 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 Woodruff 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 Woodruff near the bottom of Wisconsin's cities
Among the 761 Wisconsin cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Woodruff ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Woodruff only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#372 of 753
51st percentile in Wisconsin
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 761
0th percentile in Wisconsin
Median Home Value
#187 of 754
75th percentile in Wisconsin
Poverty Rate
#671 of 761
0th percentile in Wisconsin
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#251 of 761
67th 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
48th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Woodruff's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$253,00044th percentilemore affordable than 44% 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
Woodruff's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,642 of 15,516
More affordable than 38% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,683 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.7×, Woodruff sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,642 of 15,516 and #7,683 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
$68,798Woodruff, WI median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Woodruff, 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 Woodruff, WI.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)27.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
550
Median Income
$68,798
Median Home Value
$253,000
Median Age
62.4
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
53.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
27.6%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
66.3%
Carpool
8.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
22.1%
Work from Home
2.9%
Based on 276 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 Woodruff. 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 Woodruff 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 Woodruff sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Woodruff 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.