La Crosse vs Waterloo
Metro-area medians — La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metro Area vs Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA Metro Area — not the cities proper.
La Crosse comes out ahead, winning 5 of the 9 clearly-decided measures.
Waterloo is about 5% cheaper to live in, while La Crosse households earn about 4% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches about as far in either.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you, Waterloo leaves you about $3,459/yr better off after tax and local prices.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
Choose La Crosse for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Median household income
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Choose Waterloo for
- + Cost of living (price level, US = 100)
- + Median rent
- + Median home value
- + Average commute
La Crosse vs Waterloo — frequently asked
- Is La Crosse cheaper than Waterloo?
- Waterloo is cheaper: its overall cost of living runs about 5% below La Crosse's (BEA Regional Price Parities).
- Which has higher household income, La Crosse or Waterloo?
- La Crosse has the higher median household income — $75,117 versus $72,382 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 4% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in La Crosse or Waterloo?
- It is roughly a wash. After adjusting income for local prices, a typical paycheck is worth about the same in both metros ($81,854 versus $83,143).
- Which has cheaper rent, La Crosse or Waterloo?
- Waterloo has cheaper rent — a median of $1,047/mo versus $1,087/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).