Milwaukee-Area Communities Ranked By Median Income

FOX POINT, WI — House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Janesville) is urging members of Congress to pass landmark tax reform legislation, calling it a "middle-class tax cut" that could boost average household incomes across the board.

Ryan is touting a recent letter to Congress, sent by a coalition of tax reform advocates: the Alliance for Competitive Taxation, Job Creators Network, and Reforming America’s Taxes Equitably Coalition. The coalition considers the legislation a boon to working families.

"Adopting the budget resolution passed by the United States Senate this week is the master key capable of unlocking both tax reform and the pay raise workers deserve. As the Council of Economic Advisers reported, the reforms included in the Unified Framework would ‘increase average household income in the United States by, very conservatively, $4,000 annually.’”

For residents in many Patch.com communities, $4,000 per year could be quite a boost. For others — not so much.

It stands to reason that some income levels will benefit from tax reform more than others will. The proposed tax legislation calls for three tax rates: 12 percent, 25 percent, and 35 percent. Lawmakers are currently working out the details to include a fourth bracket to help protect the middle class.

Patch.com looked at the median household income for communities in southeastern Wisconsin to compile a ranking of the area's wealthiest communities. The median household income figures take into account all residences within each municipality. Residences containing families had much higher figures, and residences containing a single head of household figured lower.

The villages of Fox Point and River Hills — long noted for exclusive neighborhoods and million-dollar mansions — are Southeastern Wisconsin's wealthiest community according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Working-class cities like Milwaukee and Racine, known for their high unemployment and poverty rates, ranked near the bottom of our list.

River Hills $156,250
Fox Point $115,523
Whitefish Bay $102,933
Mequon $101,986
Brookfield $92,518
Muskego $83,125
Sussex $80,263
Germantown $76,973
New Berlin $75,600
Menomonee Falls $73,350
Franklin $73,148
Wauwatosa $69,460
Hales Corners $69,076
Caledonia $69,045
Oak Creek $65,319
Shorewood $64,488
Greendale $63,349
Mount Pleasant $63,295
Sturtevant $62,973
Port Washington $62,839
Hudson $62,273
Waukesha $59,547
Brown Deer $55,239
South Milwaukee $51,173
Cudahy $46,476
West Allis $45,221
Saint Francis $42,808
Racine $41,455
Milwaukee $35,958

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