Wisconsin by the numbers
In Wisconsin, the median worker earns $48,930 a year, the typical home is worth $247,400 and carries $3,746 of property tax, and the average household pays $123 a month for electricity at 19.74¢ per kilowatt-hour.
Midwest MISO Regulated monopoly
Energy
Wisconsin's rates sit above Minnesota, Iowa and downstate Illinois for a straightforward reason: its utilities have spent heavily and recovered it. Over the past two decades they built new gas generation, added environmental controls to coal units they later retired, invested in transmission, and more recently bought large solar and battery projects. Wisconsin regulators have generally allowed full recovery with returns on equity at the higher end of the national range.
The state also has relatively little cheap in-state resource to fall back on. It has no significant hydro, its nuclear presence shrank when Kewaunee closed, and it imports a meaningful share of its energy across MISO.
Fuel-cost adjustment mechanisms mean fuel swings do show up in Wisconsin bills, but they are the smaller part of the story. The larger part is capital.
Averaged across the twelve months to May 2026, Wisconsin households used 664 kilowatt-hours a month and paid $123. At the state median wage that is about 5.2 hours of work a month to keep the lights on. For heating, gas is still cheaper to run than a heat pump here, by about $8.41 per million BTU.
Work and pay
The median Wisconsin worker earned $48,930 in 2024, 1.2% below the national median. What distinguishes a state's labour market is rarely its biggest occupations, which are retail and food service everywhere, but what it has disproportionately.
| Occupation | Concentration | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Food Batchmakers | 5.72× | $46,760 |
| Print Binding and Finishing Workers | 4.58× | $40,190 |
| Foundry Mold and Coremakers | 3.77× | $44,420 |
| Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders | 3.77× | $57,760 |
| Engine and Other Machine Assemblers | 3.62× | $56,400 |
Property tax
The median Wisconsin homeowner pays $3,746 a year on a home worth $247,400, an effective rate of 1.51% against a national 0.98%. Nobody sets that rate. It is what falls out of county, city, school district and special district levies applied to an assessed value, so the state figure is a weighted average of 70 counties rather than a posted number.
Cost of living
Prices in Wisconsin run at 94.1 where the national average is 100, ranking it #32 of 51. Goods sit at 94.3, which is close to national almost everywhere because most goods are shipped and priced nationally. Rents sit at 79.3, and that is where states actually separate from one another. A median wage of $48,930 therefore buys what $51,998 buys nationally.
Metro areas priced separately: Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington (104.8) , Kenosha (101.1) , Madison (97.3) , Milwaukee-Waukesha (96.9) , Racine-Mount Pleasant (96.0) .
Housing
House prices in Wisconsin rose 4.8% over the year to 2026 Q2, against a median across all states of +2.7%. Over ten years the index is +113.8%. Prices are at or near their record level.
Metro areas tracked here: Milwaukee-Waukesha (+6.1%) , Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington (+2.2%) .
Who supplies the power
60 utilities report residential service in Wisconsin, together serving 2.7 million customers. Regulated monopoly.
Wisconsin: common questions
What does it cost to live in Wisconsin?
Prices overall run at 94.1 against a national average of 100, with rents at 79.3. The typical home is worth $247,400 and carries $3,746 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 1.51% against a national 0.98%. Electricity averages $123 a month at 19.74¢ per kilowatt-hour. Against that, the median wage is $48,930.
What is the property tax rate in Wisconsin?
The effective rate is 1.51% of home value, from a median bill of $3,746. It is set locally rather than by the state, so the figure is a weighted outcome across 70 counties. County by county rates.
Does a salary go further in Wisconsin?
The median wage of $48,930 buys what $51,998 buys nationally, once local prices are taken out. A state paying above the national median while charging above it for housing can leave a household no better off, and this is the arithmetic that shows which side of that line Wisconsin falls on.
Is Wisconsin expensive for electricity?
It ranks #17 of 51 jurisdictions on price at 19.74¢ per kilowatt-hour, +7.0% against the U.S. average. On the actual bill it ranks 41 of 51, because households there use 664 kWh a month against a national 871.
What is the median salary in Wisconsin?
$48,930 across all occupations, about $23.52 an hour, covering 2,923,420 wage and salary workers as of 2024.
Who supplies electricity in Wisconsin?
60 utilities report residential service, the largest being Wisconsin Electric Power Co with 1.0 million customers. Regulated monopoly.
Electricity May 2026, gas 2024, utilities 2024, wages 2024. All figures from federal statistical agencies. Methodology · Sources