What salary do you need to live in Oshkosh, WI?

The cost side of living in Oshkosh

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Oshkosh-Neenah, WI metro at $789 for a one-bedroom, $991 for a two-bedroom and $1,183 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $202 a month, and the third bedroom another $192.

Buying is the other half of the housing picture: owners put the median home in Oshkosh-Neenah, WI at $225,800. Against a median household income of $74,925, the ratio is 3.0× — one of the gentler home-price-to-income ratios in the country.

The Regional Price Parity, BEA's index of local prices with the US at 100, is 92.9 here. Below 100 means a paycheck stretches further: $100,000 in Oshkosh has the buying power of roughly $107,609 at national average prices.

The salary lines for a two-bedroom in Oshkosh

For two bedrooms, $113,000 is where Oshkosh turns Comfortable. Below that, $56,000 marks the start of Okay and $28,000 the start of Tight; under $28,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 11% of gross pay.

Royal, the top band, starts at $319,000. At that income rent is 4% of pay and the median home 0.7× income.

Nothing here is a separate rule of thumb; plug any of these incomes into the calculator with two bedrooms and Oshkosh shows the matching grade.

What different incomes look like in Oshkosh

On $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 57 and a three-bedroom 51, both Okay; the extra bedrooms cost points but not a grade.

Read down the two-bedroom column and the first Comfortable row is $150,000, consistent with the $113,000 line above.

Oshkosh on the national list

On price level Oshkosh is 211th of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 301st, and on median home value 250th. Rent and overall prices don't line up exactly, with prices in the middle half and rent in the least expensive quarter.

For a sense of scale, the metros just above and below it on two-bedroom rent are Columbus, GA-AL ($991) and Pocatello, ID ($991).

Oshkosh next to Wisconsin and similar metros

Compared with Wisconsin as a whole, two-bedroom rent in Oshkosh is 10% lower ($991 vs. $1,106) and the median home is 15% lower ($225,800 vs. $266,500).

On statewide medians, a two-bedroom budget reaches Comfortable at $133,000 — above Oshkosh's $113,000 line.

Within Wisconsin, the metros closest to Oshkosh on rent and overall prices are Sheboygan, WI, Wausau, WI, and Fond du Lac, WI. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $117,000, $113,000, and $111,000.

Does the typical Oshkosh income clear the bar?

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $74,925, which grades Okay (53) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. That falls $38,075 short of the $113,000 Comfortable line, a reminder that the typical household here spends a larger share on housing than the Comfortable band allows. For Wisconsin as a whole, the median household income of $77,485 scores 50 against statewide rents. Keep in mind a household median often combines two incomes.

All figures are pre-tax estimates from public data, not financial advice.