Wyoming by the numbers
In Wyoming, the median worker earns $49,160 a year, the typical home is worth $285,100 and carries $1,659 of property tax, and the average household pays $114 a month for electricity at 14.80¢ per kilowatt-hour.
West Western Interconnection Regulated monopoly
Energy
Wyoming produces more coal than any other state and burns some of it in plants built at the mine. Fuel transport cost, usually the largest component of delivered coal price, is close to zero. The plants are old and largely depreciated, and the state has added substantial wind with among the highest capacity factors in North America.
Against that, Wyoming has fewer than six hundred thousand residents spread across the ninth-largest land area in the country. Every mile of distribution line serves very few customers, so fixed costs per customer are high. That is why Wyoming is not as cheap as its generation position alone would suggest.
Its utility is part of a multi-state system, and Wyoming regulators have periodically fought over how much of that system's clean-energy transition costs Wyoming ratepayers should carry, given that the policies driving them were set in other states.
Averaged across the twelve months to May 2026, Wyoming households used 810 kilowatt-hours a month and paid $114. At the state median wage that is about 4.8 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 $1.18 per million BTU.
Work and pay
The median Wyoming worker earned $49,160 in 2024, 0.7% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Gas Plant Operators | 24.04× | $80,760 |
| Roustabouts, Oil and Gas | 19.05× | $47,020 |
| Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers | 11.07× | $96,470 |
| Forest and Conservation Technicians | 10.51× | $53,250 |
| Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas | 10.06× | $59,460 |
Property tax
The median Wyoming homeowner pays $1,659 a year on a home worth $285,100, an effective rate of 0.58% 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 21 counties rather than a posted number.
Cost of living
Prices in Wyoming run at 92.7 where the national average is 100, ranking it #36 of 51. Goods sit at 95.4, which is close to national almost everywhere because most goods are shipped and priced nationally. Rents sit at 71.1, and that is where states actually separate from one another. A median wage of $49,160 therefore buys what $53,031 buys nationally.
Metro areas priced separately: Cheyenne (96.5) , Casper (93.8) .
Housing
House prices in Wyoming rose 3.2% over the year to 2026 Q2, against a median across all states of +2.7%. Over ten years the index is +79.1%. Prices are at or near their record level.
Who supplies the power
9 utilities report residential service in Wyoming, together serving 245,377 customers. Regulated monopoly.
Wyoming: common questions
What does it cost to live in Wyoming?
Prices overall run at 92.7 against a national average of 100, with rents at 71.1. The typical home is worth $285,100 and carries $1,659 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.58% against a national 0.98%. Electricity averages $114 a month at 14.80¢ per kilowatt-hour. Against that, the median wage is $49,160.
What is the property tax rate in Wyoming?
The effective rate is 0.58% of home value, from a median bill of $1,659. It is set locally rather than by the state, so the figure is a weighted outcome across 21 counties. County by county rates.
Does a salary go further in Wyoming?
The median wage of $49,160 buys what $53,031 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 Wyoming falls on.
Is Wyoming expensive for electricity?
It ranks #38 of 51 jurisdictions on price at 14.80¢ per kilowatt-hour, -19.7% against the U.S. average. On the actual bill it ranks 46 of 51, because households there use 810 kWh a month against a national 871.
What is the median salary in Wyoming?
$49,160 across all occupations, about $23.64 an hour, covering 278,500 wage and salary workers as of 2024.
Who supplies electricity in Wyoming?
9 utilities report residential service, the largest being PacifiCorp with 118,130 customers. Regulated monopoly.
Electricity May 2026, gas 2024, utilities 2024, wages 2024. All figures from federal statistical agencies. Methodology · Sources