Kalamazoo-Portage → Janesville-Beloit
Relocation analysis based on 7 federal data sources
Should you move?
Moving from Kalamazoo-Portage to Janesville-Beloit is less favorable: BEA regional price parity goes from 94.8 to 93.7 (US = 100), and HUD 2-bedroom rent rises by $84/mo.
- -$493
- BLS median salary lower in Janesville-Beloit
- 431 to 280
- violent crimes per 100K (FBI UCR, state-level)
- 17.5:1 to 14.4:1
- NCES student-teacher ratio
- $3,812
- DOL infant care higher / yr in Janesville-Beloit
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
- + Lower violent crime rate
- + Better student-teacher ratios
Cons of Moving
- - $84/mo more expensive rent (2BR)
- - More expensive childcare
- - More environmental violations
Purchasing power stays near-even: BEA RPP moves only from 94.8 to 93.7 (ratio 0.99), inside a ±5% band. HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent rises $84/mo ($1,008/yr) from $1,162 in Kalamazoo-Portage to $1,246 in Janesville-Beloit.
The seven-dimension ledger splits (3 destination wins · 4 origin wins); priorities decide this move. Janesville-Beloit sits #124 of 387 metros on PlainRelocate livability (top third of the corpus). Kalamazoo-Portage is #259/387 on the same ranking. Composite verdict: Less Favorable. Override it with the dimension table below.
BLS OEWS median salary moves $493 lower ($64,013 → $63,520). Labor-market size: 114,320 tracked jobs at origin vs 64,420 at destination.
State retirement friendliness favors the destination: Wisconsin scores 57 (D, #32/51) vs Michigan at 49 (F, #42/51). 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
- 59
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 16
- 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 Kalamazoo-Portage to see what you'd need to earn in Janesville-Beloit to maintain the same purchasing power.
Janesville-Beloit metro profile · Livability rankings · Methodology
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