Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety78#3,493/15,637
Economy60#6,213/15,631
Housing87#1,994/14,977
Health74#4,062/15,609
Healthcare66#5,247/15,650
Environment83#2,670/15,453
Education78#3,396/15,649
Infrastructure61#6,170/15,650
Community95#815/15,651
Leisure & amenities59#6,421/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Whiting, Wisconsin ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Portage County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Mammography screening · high62.0%
99/100Wisconsin 53.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePortage County value
Rent-burdened households · low32.7%
99/100Wisconsin 43.7%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Restaurants and bars · high15.1 /10k
95/100Wisconsin 12.7 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPortage County value
Loneliness · low30.2%
95/100Wisconsin 31.6%United States 33.2%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Average commute time · low14.0 min
95/100Wisconsin 22.2 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Rent as share of income · low23.6%
94/100Wisconsin 27.2%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071

Weaknesses

Pharmacies · low0.8 /10k
9/100Wisconsin 1.7 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPortage County value
Grocery stores · low1.0 /10k
13/100Wisconsin 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPortage County value
New business applications · low8.9 /1k
14/100Wisconsin 12.0 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauPortage County value
Suicide rate · high21.1 /100k
17/100Wisconsin 16.7 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataPortage County value
Comfortable days · low23.7%
17/100Wisconsin 24.0%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationPortage County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high59 mi
22/100Wisconsin 40 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauPortage County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationFalling
1,714 (2015-2019) → 1,493 (2020-2024)
−13%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
50.0% (2015-2019) → 32.7% (2020-2024)
−17 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
New homes permittedWorsening
3.9 /1k (2022) → 0.7 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−83%4 yearsUS 5.0 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
76.3% (2015-2019) → 89.0% (2020-2024)
+13 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateImproving
12.5% (2015-2019) → 5.9% (2020-2024)
−6.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
30.0% (2015-2019) → 23.6% (2020-2024)
−6.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Whiting, Wisconsin improved on 3 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 9 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved3

Rent burden−17 points50.0% → 32.7%
Broadband+13 points76.3% → 89.0%
Household income+22%$60,086 → $73,063

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Whiting, Wisconsin between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	13.7 min2015-2019	14.0 min2020-2024	+0.2 min	Within the margin of error	44%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.6%2015-2019	30.8%2020-2024	+1.2 points	Within the margin of error	36%
Broadband subscriptions	76.3%2015-2019	89.0%2020-2024	+13 points	Improved	72%
Effective property tax rate	1.49%2015-2019	1.33%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	49%
High school diploma or higher	91.7%2015-2019	95.6%2020-2024	+3.9 points	Within the margin of error	75%
Home price to income ratio	2.6×2015-2019	3.0×2020-2024	+0.4×	Within the margin of error	54%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4232015-2019	0.4242020-2024	+0.001	Within the margin of error	49%
Median household income	$60,0862015-2019	$73,0632020-2024	+22%	Improved	36%
Poverty rate	10.5%2015-2019	6.5%2020-2024	−3.9 points	Within the margin of error	75%
Rent as share of income	30.0%2015-2019	23.6%2020-2024	−6.4 points	Within the margin of error	87%
Rent-burdened households	50.0%2015-2019	32.7%2020-2024	−17 points	Improved	91%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	5.1%2015-2019	5.4%2020-2024	+0.2 points	Within the margin of error	44%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Whiting, Wisconsin five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Whiting, Wisconsin in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Whiting, Wisconsin itself moved +10 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

1,493 residents (±280)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†
50–59†
40–49†
30–39†
20–29†
10–19†
Under 10†

Share of all residents, each sex

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: 80 and over women (−3.6 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B01001View table on data.census.gov

Race and Hispanic origin

1,493 residents (±280)

Whiting, Wisconsin
Wisconsin share

White89%1,329
Black3.9%†58
Hispanic or Latino1.3%†19

Education

1,148 residents (±181)

Whiting, Wisconsin
Wisconsin share

No high school diploma4.4%†50
High school or GED38%439
Some college17%†192

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

662 households (±101)

Whiting, Wisconsin
Wisconsin share

Under $25k17%†111
$25k–50k14%†90
$50k–75k24%†161
$75k–100k13%†87
$100k–150k15%†96
$150k–200k10%†67
$200k or more7.6%†50

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: $200k or more (+6.2 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B19001View table on data.census.gov

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

662 households (±101)

Whiting, Wisconsin
Wisconsin share

Own74%492
Rent26%170

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B25003View table on data.census.gov

Rent paid

166 households (±48)

Whiting, Wisconsin
Wisconsin share

Under $75034%†56
$750–1,00015%†25
$1,000–1,50039%†64

Home values

492 homes (±81)

Whiting, Wisconsin
Wisconsin share

Under $150k14%†70
$150k–250k52%254
$250k–400k28%138

Age of homes

718 homes (±105)

Whiting, Wisconsin
Wisconsin share

2010 or later7.4%†53
2000–20099.6%†69
1980–199914%†103

Size of homes

718 homes (±105)

Whiting, Wisconsin
Wisconsin share

Studio0.0%0
1 bedroom12%†88
2 bedrooms19%140

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

672 workers (±157)

Whiting, Wisconsin
Wisconsin share

Drive alone76%508
Carpool5.4%†36
Public transit0.0%0
Walk2.5%†17
Bike0.0%0
Work from home16%†108
Other0.4%†3

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Work from home (+12.7 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B08301View table on data.census.gov

Time to get to work

564 workers (±149)

Whiting, Wisconsin
Wisconsin share

Under 15 min63%†355
15–29 min29%†161
30–44 min4.8%†27

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Stevens Point-Plover, WI

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Portage County, the county holding most of Whiting's residents.

Portage County has 1,715 employer establishments, 240 for every 10,000 residents (0.97× the US rate of 248; 0.98× Wisconsin's), with 29,656 paid employees at an average annual pay of $54,777. The Census Bureau also counts 4,504 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,715; 4,504 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 240; US 248 · Wisconsin 244
Paid employees: 29,656
Average annual pay: $54,777; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Portage County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	151	21.2	1.02×About typical	1,597	$71,667	147
Restaurants and other eating places	140	19.6	1.07×About typical	2,053	$18,199	18
Specialty trade contractors	99	13.9	0.90×About typical	618	$76,207	291
Full-service restaurants	72	10.1	1.31×More than typical	860	$18,249	11
Offices of physicians	63	8.8	1.36×More than typical	685	$94,796	13
Construction of buildings	60	8.4	1.11×About typical	371	$68,539	162
Truck transportation	57	8	1.58×More than typical	1,122	$57,531	86
Drinking places (alcoholic beverages)	54	7.6	6.24×More than typical	308	$12,123	17
Limited-service restaurants	53	7.4	0.93×About typical	980	$18,526	4
Religious organizations	53	7.4	1.34×More than typical	424	$21,736	—
Lessors of real estate	50	7	0.57×Fewer than typical	142	$36,176	471
Offices of other health practitioners	44	6.2	1.01×About typical	226	$47,907	86

Rank places for an industry Open Portage County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 71,361 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $128.4K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Whiting, Wisconsin: $85.99 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $128.4K; +11% vs FY2025
Per resident: $85.99; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 100%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Federal Bureau of Investigation$128.4K100%

Top recipients

WILDCARD CORP$128.4K100%

Spending by fiscal year

14.3KFY2017
8.2KFY2018
76.2FY2019
1.6KFY2020
4.5KFY2021
96.5KFY2022
107.9KFY2023
108.2KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Computer systems design and related services · 5415$128.4K100%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Whiting, Wisconsin, so they do not add up across cities.

Whiting, Wisconsin's figures are part of those of Portage County, WI ($7.9M in FY2026), never added to them: 1.6% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Whiting is mostly in Portage County.

See federal money in Portage County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Whiting, Wisconsin is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Derrick Van OrdenR-WI-3 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 8.3%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Portage County97100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Stevens Point-Plover, WI97

Other cities and towns in Portage County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/5586975

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends