54915 — Appleton, Wisconsin

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 54915. Its median home value runs 17% above Appleton as a whole, which is why this ZIP carries a profile of its own.

70out of 100
Area Score
Top 13% of 3,113 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
OpportunityTop 16% of 3,116 ZIP areas measured73
SchoolsTop 29% of 3,047 ZIP areas measured66
Growth2,892nd of 3,124 ZIP areas measured23
Housing affordabilityTop 10% of 3,112 ZIP areas measured82
Climate2,879th of 3,127 ZIP areas measured57
Physical resilienceTop 1% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured97
AccessTop 20% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured98
Economic stabilityTop 13% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured76
The quick read

54915 ranks in the top 16% of ZIP areas measured for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.5% and median household income of $87,426. The unemployment rate is published for Appleton, WI, which contains 54915, rather than for 54915 alone.

In the public schools here, 46% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.6 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 54 units authorized over the past twelve months, 47% below the prior year. The permit count and 1 other measure here are published for Appleton, WI, which contains 54915, rather than for 54915 alone.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
44,367
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$87,426
Top 29% nationally
Density
2,950/sq mi
15 sq mi of land
Median age
39.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Appleton
Wisconsin
Metro area
Nearest major airport
ATW
8 mi · Appleton Intl
Median home value
$269,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Appleton, WI, which contains 54915, is 3.5%, lower than in 81% of the 3,127 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment across Appleton, WI, which contains 54915, grew 1.0% over the past year, to 39,987 employed residents.

38% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 78% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$5,0612024 ACS 5-Year$87,426Top 29%of 31,0492024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,6872024 ACS 5-Year$43,615Top 30%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year8.0%Top 37%of 32,8462024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.8 min2024 ACS 5-Year20.7 minTop 15%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year38.3%Top 22%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year76.8%53rd percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentAppleton, WI’s figureJuly 202639,987Bottom 43%of 3,127July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Appleton, WI’s figureJuly 2026−0.9%Bottom 41%of 3,127July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Appleton, WI’s figureJuly 2026+1.0%Top 18%of 3,127July 2026
Labor forceAppleton, WI’s figureJuly 202641,43942nd percentileof 3,127July 2026
Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year86.0%Top 17%of 32,8832024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageAppleton, WI Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$62,240Bottom 33%of 2,7602025 OEWS
Median annual wageAppleton, WI Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$49,910Top 50%of 2,7602025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±0.2%2024 ACS 5-Year0.3%67th percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Appleton, WI’s figureJuly 2026+0.1%Bottom 39%of 3,127July 2026
Unemployment rateAppleton, WI’s figureJuly 20263.5%Top 19%of 3,127July 2026
Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year13.9%68th percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202487k74k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $87,426 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

Largest occupations — Appleton, WI

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons3,610$34,540
Fast Food and Counter Workers3,150$29,010
Home Health and Personal Care Aides2,820$37,010
Cashiers2,750$31,610
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand2,610$43,610
Customer Service Representatives2,540$45,760

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Appleton, WI, the city containing this ZIP code.

46% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 43% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.6 students for every full-time teacher across 12 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
13
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.6
across 12 of them
Math proficiency
46.5%
Top 32% in Wisconsin
Reading proficiency
42.5%
Top 42% in Wisconsin
The 12 largest of 13 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
East HighAppleton Area School District1,23814.722%30%
Madison MiddleAppleton Area School District92913.733%30%
Woodland SchoolKimberly Area School District47815.484%67%
Sunrise ElementaryKimberly Area School District45615.782%67%
McKinley ElementaryAppleton Area School District38012.339%28%
Berry ElementaryAppleton Area School District36812.759%45%
Woodland IntermediateKimberly Area School District31616.684%82%
Johnston ElementaryAppleton Area School District28611.430%22%
Horizons ElementaryAppleton Area School District2649.842%32%
Richmond ElementaryAppleton Area School District24512.952%47%
Stephen Foster Elementary Charter · charterAppleton Area School District20010.027%32%
Appleton Public Montessori · charterAppleton Area School District14921.347%57%

35.1% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Wisconsin’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 6% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 93.7, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Appleton, WI Metro Area is up 57% over five years, and up 5.1% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $3,880 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.44% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,236, some 20% above the $1,028 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,236 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $49,400 a year, about 57% of the median household income here of $87,426.

The typical renter household here spends 26% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,028 a month.

A median home at $269,700 costs 2.6 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $105,368, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
93.7

Prices here run about 6% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Appleton, WI Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
25.9%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.6×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,236
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,028
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$269,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against 54915’s median household income of $87,426, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living indexthe Appleton, WI Metro Area’s figure202393.7Top 30%of 2,7372023
Home price change (1 year)the Appleton, WI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+5.1%81st percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Appleton, WI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+56.8%90th percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Appleton, WI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+114.4%79th percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year2.6Top 44%of 29,2752024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year71.9%33rd percentileof 32,7502024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±5342024 ACS 5-Year18,70996th percentileof 33,4602024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$960Top 24%of 3,031FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,701Top 37%of 3,031FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,236Top 31%of 3,031FY2026
Median gross rent ±$592024 ACS 5-Year$1,028Bottom 49%of 26,3962024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$6,2662024 ACS 5-Year$269,70062nd percentileof 30,8122024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$862024 ACS 5-Year$3,88080th percentileof 28,9352024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$4,6262024 ACS 5-Year$105,368Top 25%of 29,8022024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.05%2024 ACS 5-Year1.44%80th percentileof 24,0992024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year25.9%Top 36%of 26,2472024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±992024 ACS 5-Year11177th percentileof 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.6%43rd percentileof 32,9612024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year2.1%15th percentileof 32,7882024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±1942024 ACS 5-Year50574th percentileof 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

23/ 100
Ranks 2,892 of 3,124 published ZIP profiles

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 54 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes. The multifamily share is published for Appleton, WI, which contains 54915, rather than for 54915 alone.

At 0.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas. The permit rate is published for Appleton, WI, which contains 54915, rather than for 54915 alone.

Units permitted
54
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.7
Bottom 16% nationally
Year over year
−47%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Appleton, WI, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 81°F and January a low of 11°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 30.6 inches.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station OSHKOSH WITTMAN AP, 20.3 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals30.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals11°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals81°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals53°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

97 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, cold wave and tornado, with inland flooding alone responsible for 39% of it. Inland flooding and cold wave are independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large those hazards are.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 99% of measured US ZIP areas.

HailModerate
TornadoModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, heat wave, strong wind, winter weather, inland flooding, ice storm, landslide, earthquake, wildfire, hurricane, drought, tsunami, volcanic activity, avalanche, coastal flooding.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Homicide
2.0
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
10.6
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
7.8
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
16.2
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around 54915 (Calumet County) rather than 54915 itself. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. A ZIP area is not a jurisdiction, so no department reports for one. Appleton carries the figure where its department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Appleton Intl at 8 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±0.2%2024 ACS 5-Year95.9%Top 16%of 32,6632024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle8 miTop 18%of 3,127NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle4Bottom 40%of 3,127NASR current cycle
No internet access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year2.7%Top 17%of 32,6632024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Appleton IntlATW8 mi8,003 ft
Green Bay/Austin Straubel IntlGRB20 mi8,700 ft
Wittman RgnlOSH20 mi8,002 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
70
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWS
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology, or every source with how often each updates.

54915 vs Appleton

How this ZIP area compares with Appleton as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like — a gap here is a real difference between the two places, not two surveys disagreeing.

54915
Appleton
Median household income: 54915 is the more favorable of the two.
Median household income
$87,426
vs
$80,483
Per capita income: Appleton is the more favorable of the two.
Per capita income
$43,615
vs
$50,397
Population density
2,950/sq mi
vs
2,951/sq mi
Median home value
$269,700
vs
$231,400
Median gross rent: 54915 is the more favorable of the two.
Median gross rent
$1,028
vs
$1,030
Homeownership rate
71.9%
vs
67.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher: 54915 is the more favorable of the two.
Bachelor's degree or higher
38.3%
vs
38.2%
Poverty rate: 54915 is the more favorable of the two.
Poverty rate
8.0%
vs
8.2%
Median age
39.1
vs
37.5

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.