Like all states, Wisconsin has certain places that are going on hard times. These Wisconsin places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in Wisconsin.
To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 146 cities in Wisconsin with more than 5,000 people.
$43,083 median income · 23.9% poverty · #1 lowest income in Wisconsin
Located in
Grant County, Wisconsin
Platteville, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Wisconsin thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 11,499 people averages the lowest median household income in Wisconsin and the 2nd highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$45,520 median income · 19.5% poverty · #2 lowest income in Wisconsin
Located in
Langlade County, Wisconsin
The second poorest city in Wisconsin is Antigo.
The city ranks as having the 6th highest incidence of poverty and 2nd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 2highest in the Badger State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$54,234 median income · 22.8% poverty · #9 lowest income in Wisconsin
Located in
Washington County, Wisconsin
Placing as the third poorest city, Milwaukee’s median income ranks as the 9th lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 22.8% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Badger State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$54,969 median income · 26.8% poverty · #13 lowest income in Wisconsin
Located in
Walworth County, Wisconsin
Whitewater ranks as the fourth poorest place in Wisconsin.
The town ranks as having the 13th lowest median household income and the highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$51,274 median income · 16.7% poverty · #3 lowest income in Wisconsin
Located in
Monroe County, Wisconsin
The fifth poorest city in Wisconsin is Tomah.
The city ranks as having the 3rd lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 14th highest in Wisconsin.
Still not the best news for Tomah.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$53,148 median income · 17.4% poverty · #8 lowest income in Wisconsin
Located in
Lincoln County, Wisconsin
Merrill ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Badger State.
It ranks as having the 11th highest incidence of poverty and the 33rd highest unemployment rate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$55,866 median income · 21.4% poverty · #15 lowest income in Wisconsin
Located in
La Crosse County, Wisconsin
La Crosse places as the seventh poorest city in Wisconsin.
The city of over 51,356 ranks as having the 4th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$54,529 median income · 17.8% poverty · #11 lowest income in Wisconsin
Located in
Bayfield County, Wisconsin
Ashland ranks as the eighth poorest city in Wisconsin.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$54,268 median income · 17.4% poverty · #10 lowest income in Wisconsin
Located in
Crawford County, Wisconsin
Prairie du Chien couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Wisconsin; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 10th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Prairie du Chien ranks as having the 12th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Wisconsin.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$51,932 median income · 16.0% poverty · #5 lowest income in Wisconsin
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Wisconsin is Richland Center.
The city of 5,109 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Badger State.
Data | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Wisconsin’s statewide median.
Wisconsin statewide median: $77,485
Wisconsin statewide median: 10.6%
Wisconsin statewide median: 3.2%
On the map
Where poverty hits hardest in Wisconsin
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the poorest places in Wisconsin for 2026
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
After we collected the data for all 146 places with more than 5,000 people in Wisconsin, we ranked each place from 1 to 146 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Platteville, crowned the “Poorest Place In Wisconsin For 2026”.
The full plate
Detailed list of the poorest places to live in Wisconsin
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Poor Score | Population | Median income | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Platteville | 1.50 | 11,499 | $43,083 | 23.9% | 4.9% |
| 2 | Antigo | 4.00 | 8,069 | $45,520 | 19.5% | 4.5% |
| 3 | Milwaukee | 6.00 | 566,973 | $54,234 | 22.8% | 6.2% |
| 4 | Whitewater | 7.00 | 15,807 | $54,969 | 26.8% | 5.3% |
| 5 | Tomah | 8.50 | 9,532 | $51,274 | 16.7% | 4.3% |
| 6 | Merrill | 9.50 | 9,356 | $53,148 | 17.4% | 4.2% |
| 7 | La Crosse | 9.50 | 51,356 | $55,866 | 21.4% | 3.7% |
| 8 | Ashland | 9.50 | 7,902 | $54,529 | 17.8% | 3.7% |
| 9 | Prairie du Chien | 11.00 | 5,491 | $54,268 | 17.4% | 2.1% |
| 10 | Richland Center | 12.00 | 5,109 | $51,932 | 16.0% | 4.6% |
| 11 | Menomonie | 12.50 | 16,539 | $56,889 | 17.7% | 5.8% |
| 12 | Racine | 13.50 | 77,633 | $57,740 | 18.2% | 6.1% |
| 13 | St. Francis | 15.50 | 9,004 | $57,368 | 17.0% | 2.9% |
| 14 | New London | 16.00 | 7,726 | $60,612 | 21.0% | 2.8% |
| 15 | Wisconsin Rapids | 19.00 | 18,722 | $55,253 | 14.8% | 6.6% |
| 16 | Stevens Point | 19.00 | 25,785 | $58,031 | 16.6% | 4.4% |
| 17 | Oshkosh | 19.50 | 66,729 | $62,188 | 17.5% | 2.8% |
| 18 | Rhinelander | 20.00 | 8,316 | $51,421 | 12.8% | 1.0% |
| 19 | Rice Lake | 20.00 | 9,030 | $52,417 | 12.9% | 3.2% |
| 20 | Chippewa Falls | 20.50 | 14,782 | $57,873 | 15.4% | 4.0% |
| 21 | Shawano | 21.00 | 9,522 | $57,490 | 14.9% | 0.9% |
| 22 | Berlin | 21.50 | 5,562 | $59,472 | 16.0% | 2.3% |
| 23 | Ripon | 23.50 | 7,772 | $54,763 | 12.8% | 2.7% |
| 24 | Beloit | 26.50 | 36,534 | $62,663 | 15.0% | 5.3% |
| 25 | Waupaca | 27.00 | 6,283 | $52,727 | 11.5% | 5.6% |
| 26 | Waupun | 28.00 | 11,174 | $65,625 | 16.6% | 2.4% |
| 27 | Two Rivers | 30.00 | 11,231 | $57,222 | 11.8% | 1.7% |
| 28 | Wausau | 31.00 | 39,996 | $64,389 | 14.6% | 4.9% |
| 29 | Marinette | 33.00 | 11,115 | $58,638 | 11.8% | 3.8% |
| 30 | Superior | 33.00 | 26,677 | $64,216 | 13.3% | 3.2% |
| 31 | Marshfield | 33.50 | 18,700 | $58,407 | 11.6% | 2.8% |
| 32 | Green Bay | 33.50 | 106,253 | $66,206 | 14.7% | 3.7% |
| 33 | Fond du Lac | 34.00 | 44,494 | $62,260 | 12.4% | 4.4% |
| 34 | Portage | 34.00 | 10,236 | $64,722 | 13.5% | 3.7% |
| 35 | Manitowoc | 35.50 | 34,620 | $63,757 | 12.6% | 3.7% |
| 36 | Sheboygan | 36.00 | 49,645 | $62,927 | 12.3% | 2.7% |
| 37 | North Fond du Lac | 36.00 | 5,392 | $62,832 | 12.3% | 8.2% |
| 38 | Eau Claire | 36.50 | 70,322 | $67,395 | 14.3% | 3.4% |
| 39 | Menasha | 39.00 | 18,273 | $64,698 | 12.0% | 3.2% |
| 40 | Kenosha | 42.00 | 99,372 | $71,239 | 13.7% | 4.5% |
| 41 | Madison | 42.00 | 278,001 | $78,050 | 16.4% | 2.7% |
| 42 | Sparta | 44.00 | 9,950 | $64,973 | 11.3% | 4.2% |
| 43 | Sturgeon Bay | 44.00 | 9,806 | $59,926 | 9.2% | 3.2% |
| 44 | Cudahy | 46.00 | 17,853 | $66,719 | 11.4% | 2.4% |
| 45 | South Milwaukee | 46.00 | 20,442 | $73,427 | 13.1% | 3.6% |
| 46 | West Allis | 46.50 | 59,612 | $67,611 | 11.5% | 4.1% |
| 47 | Delavan | 46.50 | 8,689 | $65,357 | 10.2% | 3.3% |
| 48 | Ashwaubenon | 47.50 | 17,314 | $69,667 | 11.6% | 2.8% |
| 49 | River Falls | 51.00 | 16,719 | $83,627 | 15.1% | 3.3% |
| 50 | Plymouth | 53.00 | 8,890 | $68,038 | 9.8% | 4.5% |
| 51 | Beaver Dam | 54.00 | 16,565 | $66,673 | 8.9% | 3.7% |
| 52 | Watertown | 54.00 | 22,774 | $70,107 | 9.9% | 5.3% |
| 53 | Kimberly | 54.00 | 7,447 | $70,451 | 9.9% | 2.8% |
| 54 | Pewaukee | 56.00 | 8,196 | $62,139 | 7.3% | 3.0% |
| 55 | Altoona | 57.50 | 8,878 | $84,552 | 13.1% | 2.8% |
| 56 | Monroe | 57.50 | 10,587 | $69,334 | 8.9% | 4.3% |
| 57 | Lake Geneva | 58.00 | 8,521 | $75,629 | 10.7% | 4.3% |
| 58 | Jefferson | 60.00 | 7,732 | $79,006 | 11.2% | 2.7% |
| 59 | Shorewood | 60.00 | 13,627 | $86,726 | 14.3% | 3.2% |
| 60 | Glendale | 61.00 | 13,656 | $78,092 | 10.0% | 3.1% |
| 61 | Janesville | 61.50 | 66,030 | $73,446 | 9.0% | 4.1% |
| 62 | Baraboo | 62.00 | 12,769 | $69,750 | 8.4% | 2.9% |
| 63 | Greenfield | 62.50 | 37,345 | $70,459 | 8.6% | 2.5% |
| 64 | Edgerton | 63.50 | 6,014 | $72,489 | 8.6% | 4.1% |
| 65 | Neenah | 65.50 | 27,336 | $75,374 | 8.6% | 2.2% |
| 66 | Reedsburg | 68.50 | 10,168 | $75,028 | 8.3% | 2.6% |
| 67 | Sheboygan Falls | 69.00 | 8,547 | $71,477 | 7.6% | 4.0% |
| 68 | West Bend | 69.00 | 32,030 | $74,076 | 8.2% | 3.2% |
| 69 | Waukesha | 69.50 | 71,233 | $83,837 | 9.8% | 2.7% |
| 70 | Mayville | 69.50 | 5,228 | $66,834 | 6.6% | 4.3% |
| 71 | Hartford | 71.00 | 15,821 | $82,014 | 9.0% | 2.8% |
| 72 | Elkhorn | 73.50 | 10,221 | $77,649 | 7.6% | 1.3% |
| 73 | New Richmond | 75.50 | 10,539 | $88,157 | 10.5% | 2.9% |
| 74 | Appleton | 75.50 | 75,023 | $80,483 | 8.3% | 3.5% |
| 75 | Fitchburg | 75.50 | 32,619 | $86,516 | 9.3% | 1.9% |
| 76 | Kaukauna | 76.00 | 17,706 | $80,365 | 7.8% | 3.0% |
| 77 | Dodgeville | 76.50 | 5,042 | $72,288 | 6.3% | 6.6% |
| 78 | Columbus | 76.50 | 5,488 | $75,427 | 6.9% | 4.9% |
| 79 | Monona | 78.00 | 8,527 | $87,773 | 9.5% | 2.5% |
| 80 | Stoughton | 78.50 | 13,033 | $79,551 | 7.1% | 1.9% |
| 81 | Plover | 79.50 | 13,884 | $88,042 | 9.2% | 3.5% |
| 82 | Lake Hallie | 80.00 | 7,285 | $86,740 | 8.9% | 1.4% |
| 83 | Fort Atkinson | 81.50 | 12,463 | $79,302 | 6.7% | 4.5% |
| 84 | Port Washington | 83.50 | 12,645 | $81,948 | 6.7% | 1.7% |
| 85 | Burlington | 83.50 | 10,987 | $83,419 | 7.0% | 3.2% |
| 86 | Rothschild | 86.00 | 5,600 | $88,261 | 8.4% | 0.3% |
| 87 | Holmen | 86.50 | 11,372 | $79,899 | 6.0% | 0.3% |
| 88 | Weston | 89.50 | 15,749 | $78,207 | 5.5% | 1.7% |
| 89 | Middleton | 90.50 | 22,301 | $89,524 | 7.6% | 3.0% |
| 90 | Evansville | 92.00 | 5,782 | $81,149 | 5.6% | 2.6% |
| 91 | Milton | 92.00 | 5,706 | $85,959 | 6.5% | 0.9% |
| 92 | West Salem | 92.50 | 5,330 | $97,019 | 8.6% | 3.3% |
| 93 | Greendale | 93.00 | 14,594 | $94,769 | 8.4% | 2.1% |
| 94 | Onalaska | 93.50 | 19,348 | $85,867 | 6.0% | 3.4% |
| 95 | Sturtevant | 95.00 | 6,772 | $92,647 | 7.4% | 5.8% |
| 96 | Twin Lakes | 95.50 | 6,309 | $86,222 | 6.0% | 4.0% |
| 97 | De Pere | 97.00 | 25,301 | $84,869 | 5.6% | 1.7% |
| 98 | Brown Deer | 99.50 | 12,564 | $93,974 | 6.9% | 5.0% |
| 99 | Howard | 100.00 | 21,087 | $85,477 | 5.1% | 2.5% |
| 100 | Little Chute | 100.00 | 11,754 | $87,538 | 5.7% | 2.4% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 146 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
The poorest cities in Wisconsin for 2026
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Wisconsin, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Wisconsin.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.
