City safety & data profile
La CrosseWI
La Crosse, WI is a 52K-resident city in La Crosse County with a median household income of $55,866.
La Crosse County, Wisconsin. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for La Crosse, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. La Crosse has a population larger than 80% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $210,100, and 2 hospitals serving the surrounding area.
Data updated 2026-09-04
- 52K
- Population (place)
- Top 20%
- By size
- $55,866
- Median income (place)
- $210,100
- Median home (place)
- 21.4%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on La Crosse
La Crosse posts a median household income higher than 16% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 2 hospitals serve the La Crosse area.
- Bottom 17%
- by median income, US cities
- 2
- hospitals in & near La Crosse
Where La Crosse income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$55,866 Bottom 16% higher than 16% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles
Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. 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, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year
Largest cities in WI
Population among 85 WI places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.
- Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI
563,531 residents
- Madison
Madison, WI
280,305 residents
- Green Bay 105,207
Green Bay, WI
105,207 residents
- Kenosha 99,858
Kenosha, WI
99,858 residents
- Racine 77,742
Racine, WI
77,742 residents
- Appleton 74,139
Appleton, WI
74,139 residents
- Waukesha 71,970
Waukesha, WI
71,970 residents
- Eau Claire 67,778
Eau Claire, WI
67,778 residents
- Oshkosh 66,555
Oshkosh, WI
66,555 residents
- Janesville 64,123
Janesville, WI
64,123 residents
What this shows Milwaukee is the largest WI city on this list; Whitefish Bay leads median income.
Highest median incomes in WI
Median household income among the same 85-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.
- Whitefish Bay
Whitefish Bay, WI
$157,109 median
- Mequon
Mequon, WI
$144,051 median
- Richfield
Richfield, WI
$143,963 median
- Brookfield
Brookfield, WI
$129,548 median
- Waunakee
Waunakee, WI
$125,220 median
- Verona
Verona, WI
$119,606 median
- Sussex
Sussex, WI
$119,041 median
- Suamico
Suamico, WI
$118,337 median
- Muskego
Muskego, WI
$112,221 median
- Franklin
Franklin, WI
$106,894 median
What this shows Whitefish Bay posts the highest place-level median income in WI; Milwaukee is largest by headcount.
The quick read
Reading La Crosse, WI beyond the headline numbers
La Crosse sits inside La Crosse County, Wisconsin, at roughly 43.80°N, -91.24°W. Population 52,306, $55,866 median household income. Median home value $210,100, median rent $1,010. Poverty rate 21.4%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
2 hospitals in/around La Crosse, 4.5/5 avg rating, 2 with an ER.
21.4% of La Crosse, WI residents live below the poverty line, placing it in the hardest-hit quarter of reporting cities. Read every median on this page against that: half the households are above it, and a large minority are far below.
The median home in La Crosse costs roughly 3.8 times median household income, below the midpoint for reporting cities, so ownership remains reachable on a typical local wage.
Remote work covers 11.9% of La Crosse workers, under the midpoint for reporting cities.
Among the CDC measures on this page, binge drinking departs furthest from its peer median: 20% in La Crosse, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.
La Crosse's median age is 30.5 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for La Crosse from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.
10-Year Trends 2013–2024
County-level trend (La Crosse County): La Crosse's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.
Economics
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Median Rent | |
| Poverty Rate | 21.4% +73% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 3.7% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 34.9% |
| Work From Home | 11.9% |
| Public Transit | 1.8% |
Population
Health Profile 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
Hospitals 2 total
What alerts and safety updates affect La Crosse?
No area-tagged alerts are on record for La Crosse right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet WI-LA-CROSSE · La Crosse
La Crosse: no area-tagged alerts on record — state hubs carry the live CAP stream.
- FEED-QUIET No tagged alerts
- LEAD-NONE Feed idle
- DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed
Counts reflect published articles tagged to La Crosse; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Wisconsin state hubs · Methodology
Read with this city profile
Frequently Asked Questions 6
What is the population of La Crosse, WI? ▼
What is the median household income in La Crosse? ▼
What is the median home value in La Crosse? ▼
What are the top health concerns in La Crosse? ▼
How many hospitals are in La Crosse? ▼
What is the median age in La Crosse? ▼
Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for La Crosse, both outside Wisconsin so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.
Similar poverty rate
Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside WI (21.4% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside WI ($55,866 here).
Compare La Crosse with another city
Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.
Nearby Cities 8
Using La Crosse's profile
Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.
- Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the La Crosse area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
- Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
- Compare La Crosse against Wisconsin peers on any ranking lens. Explore Wisconsin
Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.
Data Sources
All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (La Crosse County) where that is the smallest published unit.
Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.