Sussex, Wisconsin

Area Profile

12,066 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Sussex, in Waukesha County.

80out of 100
Area Score
Top 2% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 8% of 3,904 published cities80
SchoolsTop 7% of 2,668 published cities86
GrowthTop 32% of 2,973 published cities60
Housing affordabilityTop 25% of 4,223 published cities93
Climate3450th of 4,223 published cities61
Physical resilienceTop 3% of 4,182 published cities96
Access3720th of 4,226 published cities70
Economic stabilityTop 3% of 4,226 published cities84
The quick read

Sussex ranks in the top 8% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.2% and median household income of $119,041.

Residential permitting has slowed: 86 units authorized over the past twelve months, 16% below the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Sussex in the top 3% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
12,066
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$119,041
Top 11% nationally
Density
1,428/sq mi
8.4 sq mi of land
Median age
39.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Waukesha County
Wisconsin
Metro area
Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI
Nearest major airport
MSN
56 mi · Dane County Rgnl/Truax Fld
Median home value
$430,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.2% is lower than 92% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.3% over the past year, to 217,537 employed residents.

51% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 89% of measured US cities.

Household income is higher than at least 89% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$14,736$119,041Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$6,149$60,001Top 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate4.5%Bottom 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute25.9 minBottom 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher51.2%Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment217,537Top 27%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.7%Bottom 38%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.3%Top 24%June 2026
Labor force224,812Top 28%June 2026
Labor force participation72.8%Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$67,440Bottom 47%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$51,160Bottom 48%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.1%Top 47%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.2%Bottom 8%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024119k97k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $119,041 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 — Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides30,090$37,020
Registered Nurses22,400$97,360
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand19,810$44,840
Retail Salespersons18,850$34,410
Fast Food and Counter Workers17,490$28,440
Cashiers15,050$30,400

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 publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Waukesha County, WI, which contains this city.

67% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 59% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.6 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
67.3%
Top 3% in Wisconsin
Reading proficiency
58.7%
Top 3% in Wisconsin
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Hamilton HighHamilton School District1,57717.7
Templeton MiddleHamilton School District76615.658%59%
Silver Spring IntermediateHamilton School District75817.270%59%
Maple Avenue ElementaryHamilton School District45715.880%72%
Woodside ElementaryHamilton School District45615.764%50%
Richmond ElementaryRichmond School District41015.869%53%

11.9% 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 $1,369 takes 14% 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
13.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,369
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$430,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.62Top 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate70.3%Bottom 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2534,820Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$70$1,369Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$20,165$430,600Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income13.8%Bottom 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate1.5%Bottom 14%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
60/ 100
Top 32% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2022 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 grown 8% since 2020, reaching 12,607 in 2024.

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

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 7.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
86
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
7.1
Top 21% nationally
Year over year
−16%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202413k12k
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
202220232024202512978
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−26%).

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 17°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 34.6 inches, including 48.7 inches of snow.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station MILWAUKEE MITCHELL AP, 20.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation34.6"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall48.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low17°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing49°F1991-2020 Normals

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.

Physical risk

96 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HailModerate
TornadoModerate
LightningModerate

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

Waukesha County records 1.0 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 6.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 9.9 per 100,000 residents in Waukesha County.

Homicide
1.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
6.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
9.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
12.8
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 Waukesha 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 Sussex rather than Sussex 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

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 56 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Dane County Rgnl/Truax FldMSN56 mi9,006 ft
Wittman RgnlOSH61 mi8,002 ft
Appleton IntlATW79 mi8,003 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
80
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Other cities in Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
MilwaukeeMilwaukee County566,97354vs Sussex
WaukeshaWaukesha County71,23373vs Sussex
West AllisMilwaukee County59,61266vs Sussex
WauwatosaMilwaukee County48,52972vs Sussex
BrookfieldWaukesha County41,27375vs Sussex
New BerlinWaukesha County40,27073vs Sussex
Menomonee FallsWaukesha County39,53980vs Sussex
GreenfieldMilwaukee County37,345vs Sussex
Oak CreekMilwaukee County37,32573vs Sussex
FranklinMilwaukee County35,88676vs Sussex
West BendWashington County32,03073vs Sussex
MuskegoWaukesha County25,40678vs Sussex

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

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 Sussex

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
5308920,588$120,87580