53818Platteville, Wisconsin

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 53818.

67out of 100
Area Score
Top 25% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 16% of 6,210 ZIP areas measured73
SchoolsTop 13% of 4,422 ZIP areas measured80
Growth4023rd of 5,428 ZIP areas measured36
Housing affordabilityTop 44% of 6,685 ZIP areas measured84
Climate6243rd of 6,789 ZIP areas measured57
Physical resilienceTop 28% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured76
Access6222nd of 6,791 ZIP areas measured64
Economic stability5040th of 6,742 ZIP areas measured45
The quick read

53818 ranks in the top 16% of published ZIP profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.2% and median household income of $55,567.

Rent takes 19% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 4.3 times that income.

A typical July reaches 82°F and a typical January falls to 11°F, on thirty-year normals.

At a glance

Population
16,024
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$55,567
Bottom 22% nationally
Density
104/sq mi
154.4 sq mi of land
Median age
24.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Platteville
Wisconsin
Metro area
Platteville, WI
Nearest major airport
MSN
64 mi · Dane County Rgnl/Truax Fld
Median home value
$236,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.2% is lower than 93% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment grew 3.4% over the past year, to 26,103 employed residents.

38% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 77% of measured US ZIP areas.

Median household income of $55,567 is below 78% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$6,121$55,567Bottom 22%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,949$29,429Bottom 25%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate20.7%Top 17%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute19.0 minBottom 10%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher38.3%Top 23%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment26,103Bottom 27%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.9%Top 37%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)3.4%Top 1%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force26,965Bottom 26%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation64.2%Top 36%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.0%Bottom 47%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate3.2%Bottom 7%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202456k54k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $55,567 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.

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

61% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 43% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
4
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
60.5%
Top 10% in Wisconsin
Reading proficiency
43.1%
Top 31% in Wisconsin
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Platteville HighPlatteville School District47916.0
Westview ElementaryPlatteville School District44313.862%42%
Platteville MiddlePlatteville School District41711.959%44%
Neal Wilkins Early Learning CenterPlatteville School District20512.1

42.2% 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 $867 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.3 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
18.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$867
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$236,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.26Top 24%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate52.0%Bottom 10%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2796,225Top 24%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$41$867Bottom 33%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$24,827$236,700Top 45%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.7%Top 43%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.2%Bottom 39%of 33,0282024 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
36/ 100
Ranks 4023 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 0.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
4
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.3
Bottom 13% nationally
Year over year
+33%
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 Platteville, 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 82°F and January a low of 11°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 38.2 inches, including 42.5 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 36, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station DUBUQUE RGNL AP, 26.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index57.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation38.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall42.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low11°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index36.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing53°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
36
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
57
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
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

76 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HailElevated
Strong windModerate
TornadoElevated
LightningModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, cold wave, drought, inland flooding, ice storm, winter weather, earthquake, wildfire, 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 — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Grant 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 13.0 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 6.3 per 100,000 residents in Grant County.

Homicide
2.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
6.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
21.4
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 Grant 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 53818 rather than 53818 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
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 64 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Dane County Rgnl/Truax FldMSN64 mi9,006 ft
The Eastern IowaCID86 mi8,600 ft
La Crosse RgnlLSE87 mi8,742 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
67
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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
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.

53818 vs Platteville

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

53818
Platteville
Median household income
$55,567
vs
$43,083
Per capita income
$29,429
vs
$26,379
Population density
104/sq mi
vs
1,860/sq mi
Median home value
$236,700
vs
$200,100
Median gross rent
$867
vs
$863
Homeownership rate
52.0%
vs
39.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher
38.3%
vs
43.7%
Poverty rate
20.7%
vs
23.9%
Median age
24.8
vs
23.4

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.