53140Kenosha, Wisconsin

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 53140.

62out of 100
Area Score
Top 42% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 26% of 6,210 published ZIP areas67
Schools3648th of 4,422 published ZIP areas26
Growth4860th of 5,428 published ZIP areas24
Housing affordabilityTop 45% of 6,685 published ZIP areas84
Climate5663rd of 6,789 published ZIP areas60
Physical resilienceTop 1% of 6,709 published ZIP areas98
Access5620th of 6,791 published ZIP areas76
Economic stability4973rd of 6,742 published ZIP areas45
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.8% and median household income $58,006, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published ZIP profiles.

Residential permitting has slowed: 37 units authorized over the past twelve months, 84% below the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published ZIP profiles, placing 53140 in the top 1% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
30,238
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$58,006
Bottom 26% nationally
Density
3,832/sq mi
7.9 sq mi of land
Median age
35.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Kenosha
Wisconsin
Metro area
Kenosha, WI
Nearest major airport
ORD
45 mi · Chicago O'Hare Intl
Median home value
$206,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.8% is lower than 74% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment grew 1.2% over the past year, to 55,021 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,146$58,006Bottom 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,309$34,260Bottom 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate19.2%Top 20%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute25.0 minBottom 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher28.5%Top 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment55,021Top 49%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)2.5%Top 20%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)1.2%Top 11%June 2026
Labor force57,175Top 49%June 2026
Labor force participation63.0%Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$60,490Bottom 20%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$48,310Bottom 28%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.1%Top 48%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.8%Bottom 26%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202458k51k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $58,006 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 — Kenosha, WI
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand5,420$46,990
Stockers and Order Fillers2,530$46,030
Retail Salespersons2,280$33,580
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,120$29,070
Cashiers1,870$32,380
Registered Nurses1,730$83,110

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 Kenosha, WI, the city containing this ZIP code.

15% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 25% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.3 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
7
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.3
across all schools here
Math proficiency
15.2%
Bottom 10% in Wisconsin
Reading proficiency
24.6%
Bottom 16% in Wisconsin
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Harborside Academy · charterKenosha School District57213.615%55%
Washington MiddleKenosha School District54512.73%12%
Frank ElementaryKenosha School District45711.412%5%
Reuther Central HighKenosha School District35818.8
Harvey ElementaryKenosha School District32213.437%35%
Bose ElementaryKenosha School District30412.719%20%
Grant ElementaryKenosha School District28913.117%14%

70.1% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Wisconsin’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,084 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.6 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
22.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,084
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$206,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.56Top 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate52.3%Bottom 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±59414,199Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$39$1,084Top 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$11,826$206,700Bottom 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.4%Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.1%Bottom 33%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
24/ 100
Ranks 4860 of 5,428 published city 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: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 0.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
37
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.4
Bottom 13% nationally
Year over year
−84%
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 Kenosha, 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 84°F and January a low of 16°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 31.9 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 41, in the Good band, and about 11 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station KENOSHA RGNL AP, 5.8 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index65.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation31.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low16°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high84°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100112024 calendar year
Median air quality index41.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing49°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
41
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
65
90th percentile index
Days above 100
11
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

98 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, heat wave and hail.

LightningModerate
TornadoModerate
HailModerate
Heat waveModerate

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

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 offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Kenosha County records 2.2 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 11.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 13.7 per 100,000 residents in Kenosha County.

Homicide
2.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
11.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
13.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
14.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Kenosha County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 53140 rather than 53140 itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 45 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Chicago O'Hare IntlORD45 mi11,245 ft
Gary/Chicago IntlGYY72 mi8,859 ft
Dane County Rgnl/Truax FldMSN84 mi9,006 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
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 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 browse every source.

53140 vs Kenosha

How this ZIP area compares with Kenosha as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

53140
Kenosha
Median household income
$58,006
vs
$71,239
Per capita income
$34,260
vs
$37,709
Population density
3,832/sq mi
vs
3,419/sq mi
Median home value
$206,700
vs
$225,200
Median gross rent
$1,084
vs
$1,186
Homeownership rate
52.3%
vs
58.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher
28.5%
vs
29.0%
Poverty rate
19.2%
vs
13.7%
Median age
35.6
vs
37.1

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.