Report Finds Essential Household Costs in Wisconsin Have Risen Faster Than Wages and Overall Inflation

Tuesday, February 17th, 2026 -- 11:00 AM

(Joe Schulz, Wisconsin Public Radio) While median wages in Wisconsin have kept pace with inflation over the last 25 years, many essential household costs have risen much faster than wages and overall inflation.

According to Joe Schulz with Wisconsin Public Radio, that’s according to a new report from Forward Analytics, the research arm of the Wisconsin Counties Association.

It highlights the rising costs for essential expenses like housing and healthcare as the primary constraint on household budgets across the state. Preliminary estimates show that median household incomes in Wisconsin rose by 90 percent from 2000 to 2025, while overall costs of goods and services measured by the Consumer Price Index have increased by 87 percent during the same period, the report states.

Kevin Dospoy, director of research for Forward Analytics, said median incomes and inflation rising by nearly the same amount would suggest that purchasing power has remained roughly the same over the last 25 years, but “we know intuitively that that’s not true.”

“Purchasing power overall doesn’t feel like it stayed the same,” he said. “We wanted to figure out what was going on.” Much of a household’s typical budget is tied up in goods and services that are hard to reduce, substitute or eliminate, like housing, health care, transportation and education, the report notes.

The report looked at cost increases across a variety of goods and services, broken down by essential costs and discretionary, or nonessential, costs. Most of the essential costs examined outpaced median incomes, while most discretionary costs decreased over the last 25 years.

“What you see is that the essential costs are increasing way faster than median household income and way faster than inflation overall,” Dospoy said. “Those are things that you can’t just cut out of your budget, so that leaves less and less of your budget to go towards these discretionary goods.”

The biggest increase among essential costs came from hospital services, which have increased by 274 percent since 2000, the report found. Those hospital costs include inpatient and outpatient care, and represent the price that’s paid by consumers and by insurance companies toward hospital services.

Dospoy said those high health care costs can often be unpredictable and unavoidable for consumers who face a health scare. “You’re not necessarily going to price compare, or price shop, when you have to go to the emergency room, right? It’s one of those things that is really difficult to reduce out of your household budget,” he said. “One bad month could be a very bad month for your household.”

The report also found that college tuition and fees saw the second largest increase among essential costs over the last 25 years, rising by 188 percent or double the rise in median incomes and that doesn’t include room and board.

Dospoy said those costs include costs paid by people taking out student loans, so higher education expenses can often be a burden for young families and young workers.

“If a student does take out student loans and has to pay it back when they graduate college, it’s an essential cost at that point,” he said. “You can’t not pay your student loans. You have to pay your student loans. … It’s causing a huge problem for all college graduates.”

Housing is another area where the growth in costs has far exceeded inflation and median income growth since 2000. According to the report, rent has increased by 136 percent and the cost of owner occupied housing has increased by 115 percent from 2000 to 2025.

“You can’t just decide, ‘Hey, I had a bad month, had a big car repair. I’ve got to use less housing next month.’ That doesn’t work,” Dospoy said. “You have to pay your rent, you have to pay your mortgage. Those are non-negotiable.”

He said housing costs are rising “way faster” than inflation and incomes, which is putting a lot of stress on young workers. Meanwhile, the cost of groceries has been relatively steady with inflation and median incomes, rising by 87 percent since 2000, the report notes.

Of the nonessential costs tracked in the report, only cable, satellite and streaming television services outpaced inflation and income growth from 2000 to 2025, increasing by 124 percent.

Other items like TVs, toys and wireless phones have seen major decreases. The cost of a new television, for example, fell by 98 percent over the last 25 years. While groceries or housing are recurring costs for families, TVs are generally a purchase that lasts several years, Dospoy said.

“If you go into a store (and) you’re not shopping for a TV, you might come across it in the electronic section and say, ‘Oh, man, that’s way cheaper than I thought it was, but I already have one. I’m good.’ That’s not the same with groceries,” he said. “You’re seeing these changes in grocery prices every day.”

Dospoy added that breaking cost growth down by essentials versus nonessentials helps to paint a better picture of why consumers feel like they’re not getting ahead.

“Affordability is not just a question of wages keeping up with or even outpacing inflation,” he said. “It’s really about the ability of a household to purchase goods and services without compromising their ability to meet other essential needs.”

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.