Bloomington → Wausau
Relocation analysis based on 7 federal data sources
Should you move?
Moving from Bloomington to Wausau is favorable: BEA regional price parity goes from 95.1 to 92.7 (US = 100), and HUD 2-bedroom rent falls by $63/mo.
- -$810
- BLS median salary lower in Wausau
- 308 to 280
- violent crimes per 100K (FBI UCR, state-level)
- 15.9:1 to 14.4:1
- NCES student-teacher ratio
BEA Regional Price Parity, HUD Fair Market Rent, BLS OEWS, FBI UCR, NCES, and DOL. The table below lets you override the composite with your own priorities.
Pros of Moving
- + $63/mo cheaper rent (2BR)
- + Better student-teacher ratios
Cons of Moving
- - More environmental violations
Purchasing power stays near-even: BEA RPP moves only from 95.1 to 92.7 (ratio 0.97), inside a ±5% band. HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent drops $63/mo ($756/yr) from $1,210 in Bloomington to $1,147 in Wausau.
The seven-dimension ledger splits (4 destination wins · 2 origin wins); priorities decide this move. Wausau sits #63 of 387 metros on PlainRelocate livability (top third of the corpus). Bloomington is #174/387 on the same ranking. Composite verdict: Favorable. Override it with the dimension table below.
BLS OEWS median salary moves $810 lower ($64,582 → $63,772). Labor-market size: 63,280 tracked jobs at origin vs 63,730 at destination.
State retirement friendliness is near-even: Indiana 62 (C, #24/51) vs Wisconsin 57 (D, #32/51). Full state tax and healthcare sub-scores sit in the retirement desk below.
State retirement friendliness
Primary-state scores from PlainRelocate's retirement registry (tax + healthcare + climate composite). Metro pairs use each metro's primary state abbreviation.
- Income tax
- 72
- Property tax
- 69
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 32
- Income tax
- 62
- Property tax
- 56
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 40
Full retirement ranking · Source composite documented on methodology (Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides + federal healthcare/climate inputs).
Salary Adjustment Calculator
Enter your current salary in Bloomington to see what you'd need to earn in Wausau to maintain the same purchasing power.
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS OES, FBI UCR, NCES, DOL, EPA; retirement desk: Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides June 2026