The Average Income in Wisconsin

Median Household Income

Most data collecting agencies and the government use the median household income, rather than the average household income, because the median better represents reality and isn't skewed by atypical incomes. The median is the middle value in a set of numbers. In 2008, the median household income for Wisconsin residents was $52,103, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

The county you decide to live in Wisconsin will largely affect your potential income. The two main factors that affect the household income in different counties is the size of the city and unemployment rate. The size of a county is usually indicative of how much you can potentially earn because larger companies are usually stationed in larger counties. For example, the 2008 median household income for Adams County was $38,166, while Milwaukee county's median household income was $45,902, according to the USDA. Adams County had a 6.9 unemployment rate in 2008 and had a population of 20,088 in 2009, while Milwaukee County had a 5.6 unemployment rate in 2008 and a population of 959,921 in 2009, according to the United States Census Bureau.

Blue-collar jobs, such as mechanics and steel mill workers, are expected to grow significantly more slowly than white-collar jobs, such as computer technicians and nurses. According to CareerOneStop, the 50 fastest-growing jobs between 2006 and 2016 are all white-collar and consist of jobs such as health aides, dental hygienists and financial analysts. Although white-collar jobs don't necessarily have higher pay than blue collar jobs, your income will be negatively impacted if you are a blue-collar worker because of the difficulty of finding work.

Your position within a business, school or hospital is going to have an enormous impact on your salary. If you work as a retail manger, your income will far surpass someone who works in customer service. As of November 2010, a retail store manager in Wisconsin earned an average of $37,854, while the average customer service employee earned $12.51 an hour, or about $26,000 a year assuming 40 hours a week. All figures are according to PayScale.com.