?WhereToHQ

Ranked · Pick an HQ · Wisconsin

Best cities to put your HQ in Wisconsin

Cities of 25,000+ residents, scored with the “Pick an HQ” weighting the live tool uses, heaviest on bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax. Scores are relative to this set; open the tool to change the weights and re-rank.

Re-rank for your priorities
Top 10 · computed ranking

  1. 1.Wauwatosa, WI49k residents

    61/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 64% · avg. weekly wage: $1,273/wk · corporate income tax: 7.9%

  2. 2.Mequon, WI25k residents

    58/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 69.6% · avg. weekly wage: $1,198/wk · corporate income tax: 7.9%

  3. 3.Fitchburg, WI33k residents

    57/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 57.7% · avg. weekly wage: $1,273/wk · corporate income tax: 7.9%

  4. 4.Madison, WI278k residents

    56/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 59.9% · avg. weekly wage: $1,486/wk · corporate income tax: 7.9%

  5. 5.Kenosha, WI99k residents

    54/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 29% · avg. weekly wage: $1,154/wk · corporate income tax: 7.9%

  6. 6.West Allis, WI60k residents

    53/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 29.6% · avg. weekly wage: $1,273/wk · corporate income tax: 7.9%

  7. 7.Brookfield, WI41k residents

    53/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 64.3% · avg. weekly wage: $1,380/wk · corporate income tax: 7.9%

  8. 8.Milwaukee, WI567k residents

    52/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 27.4% · avg. weekly wage: $1,387/wk · corporate income tax: 7.9%

  9. 9.Greenfield, WI37k residents

    52/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 33.5% · avg. weekly wage: $1,273/wk · corporate income tax: 7.9%

  10. 10.Mount Pleasant, WI28k residents

    52/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 37.7% · avg. weekly wage: $1,273/wk · corporate income tax: 7.9%

Methodology: each city is scored 0–100 by min–max normalizing every weighted facet across this candidate set (direction-aware), identical math to the tool's “Best fit” tab. A different weighting produces a different order, which is the point: this is a starting shortlist, not a verdict.

Questions & answers
Which city is best to put your HQ in Wisconsin?
Wauwatosa, WI ranks first with a fit score of 61/100, followed by Mequon (58) and Fitchburg (57), using the "Pick an HQ" weighting.
How is this ranking calculated?
Each of the 10 candidate cities (25,000+ residents) is scored 0 to 100 by min-max normalizing the weighted facets, heaviest on bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax, across this set. Change the weights in the live tool and the order changes with them.