Racine, Wisconsin

Area Profile

77,633 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Racine, in Racine County.

60out of 100
Area Score
Top 50% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2371st of 3,904 published cities51
Schools2517th of 2,668 published cities15
Growth1947th of 2,973 published cities42
Housing affordabilityTop 27% of 4,223 published cities92
Climate3581st of 4,223 published cities60
Physical resilienceTop 2% of 4,182 published cities97
Access3652nd of 4,226 published cities71
Economic stability3029th of 4,226 published cities48
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.5% and median household income $57,740, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Residential permitting has slowed: 97 units authorized over the past twelve months, 57% below the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Racine in the top 2% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
77,633
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$57,740
Bottom 35% nationally
Density
5,018/sq mi
15.5 sq mi of land
Median age
34.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Racine County
Wisconsin
Metro area
Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI
Nearest major airport
ORD
52 mi · Chicago O'Hare Intl
Median home value
$166,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.5% is lower than 43% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.7% over the past year, to 35,768 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$2,108$57,740Bottom 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,072$29,400Bottom 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate18.2%Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.9 minBottom 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher21.4%Top 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment35,768Bottom 42%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.5%Bottom 43%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.7%Top 16%June 2026
Labor force37,471Bottom 42%June 2026
Labor force participation64.7%Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$60,060Bottom 14%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$48,870Bottom 31%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.1%Bottom 44%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.5%Top 43%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/067.12.8
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.5% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202458k48k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $57,740 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 — Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides3,210$35,740
Retail Salespersons2,340$30,970
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand2,190$45,430
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,170$28,670
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators2,120$45,300
Cashiers1,870$29,970

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.

8% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 13% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.4 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
12
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.4
across all schools here
Math proficiency
7.9%
Bottom 1% in Wisconsin
Reading proficiency
12.5%
Bottom 1% in Wisconsin
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Horlick HighRacine Unified School District1,21213.8
Starbuck International SchoolRacine Unified School District1,13313.83%17%
Gilmore Fine Arts SchoolRacine Unified School District73715.716%27%
Walden III HighRacine Unified School District69216.517%17%
Julian Thomas ElementaryRacine Unified School District57410.65%8%
Johnson ElementaryRacine Unified School District55714.35%5%
Wadewitz ElementaryRacine Unified School District51711.58%7%
Knapp ElementaryRacine Unified School District46214.05%5%
21st Century Preparatory School · charterRacine Charter One Inc43818.38%7%
Fratt ElementaryRacine Unified School District43512.15%5%
Racine Alternative LearningRacine Unified School District1836.5
DOC: Racine Youthful Offender Correction al FacilityWisconsin Department of Corrections3216.0

66.9% 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 $1,033 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.9 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
21.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,033
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$166,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.88Bottom 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate60.2%Bottom 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±62134,848Top 1%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$42$1,033Top 45%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$3,070$166,500Bottom 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.5%Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.3%Bottom 43%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
42/ 100
Ranks 1947 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

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.

Population has been broadly flat since 2020, at 78,057 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

81% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 1.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
97
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.2
Bottom 36% nationally
Year over year
−57%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
81.4%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202478k77k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202120222023202420252350.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey.

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 16°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 31.8 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 42, in the Good band, and about 20 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 RACINE BATTEN AP, 2.5 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index80.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation31.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low16°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high81°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100202024 calendar year
Median air quality index42.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing49°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
42
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
80
90th percentile index
Days above 100
20
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

97 / 100
Physical resilience

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

LightningModerate
Heat waveModerate

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. 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.

Racine County records 5.6 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 13.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 16.8 per 100,000 residents in Racine County.

Homicide
5.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
16.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
14.7
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 Racine 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 Racine rather than Racine 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 52 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Chicago O'Hare IntlORD52 mi11,245 ft
Gary/Chicago IntlGYY79 mi8,859 ft
Dane County Rgnl/Truax FldMSN82 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
60
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Other cities in Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
Mount PleasantRacine County27,95370vs Racine
CaledoniaRacine County25,257vs Racine
BurlingtonRacine County10,98775vs Racine

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

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.

ZIP codes in Racine

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
5340526,793$69,24263
5340413,703$50,42858