La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN

Across all occupations in the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN metropolitan area, the median wage is $48,260 a year ($23.20 an hour) and the mean $62,770, May 2025. That median is −5% against the US median of $50,980 and −4% against Wisconsin's $50,270. BLS counts 84,380 jobs in the area, which spans Wisconsin and Minnesota. The highest-paying occupation is family medicine physicians; the largest is registered nurses.

All occupations: La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN vs Wisconsin and Minnesota and the United States

All occupations: wage percentiles, mean and employment in the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN area, Wisconsin and Minnesota and nationally, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment
La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN	Hourly	$14.12	$17.75	$23.20	$35.72	$48.62	$30.18	84,380
La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN	Annual	$29,360	$36,920	$48,260	$74,300	$101,130	$62,770	84,380
Wisconsin	Hourly	$14.41	$18.12	$24.17	$36.71	$50.47	$30.90	2,941,540
Wisconsin	Annual	$29,980	$37,700	$50,270	$76,350	$104,990	$64,270	2,941,540
Minnesota	Hourly	$16.12	$19.08	$27.36	$39.67	$60.45	$34.21	2,949,820
Minnesota	Annual	$33,540	$39,680	$56,920	$82,520	$125,730	$71,160	2,949,820
United States	Hourly	$15.00	$18.07	$24.51	$38.71	$61.81	$33.54	155,495,730
United States	Annual	$31,200	$37,590	$50,980	$80,520	$128,560	$69,770	155,495,730

Annual wage at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th and 90th percentiles across all occupations in the metro; the line marks the US median. The same numbers are in the table above.

309 detailed occupations publish a median in this area. State profiles: Wisconsin, Minnesota. Compare any occupation across every area in the wage explorer.

20 highest-paying occupations in La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN

Rank	Occupation	Median annual	Median hourly	Employment
1	Family Medicine Physicians	$327,890	$157.64	90
2	Nurse Anesthetists	$225,450	$108.39	60
3	Chief Executives	$210,790	$101.34	150
4	Dentists, General	$201,810	$97.02	80
5	Optometrists	$175,810	$84.52	40
6	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$160,540	$77.19	110
7	Pharmacists	$159,020	$76.45	210
8	Computer and Information Systems Managers in Wisconsin	$141,100	$67.84	200
9	Financial Managers in Wisconsin	$133,280	$64.08	370
10	Human Resources Managers	$132,850	$63.87	100
11	Marketing Managers	$130,230	$62.61	90
12	Natural Sciences Managers	$128,670	$61.86	30
13	Sales Managers in Wisconsin	$127,740	$61.42	220
14	Purchasing Managers	$127,280	$61.19	40
15	Clinical and Counseling Psychologists	$126,960	$61.04	50
16	Medical and Health Services Managers	$126,880	$61.00	320
17	Nurse Practitioners	$125,390	$60.29	240
18	Education Administrators, Postsecondary	$125,100	$60.14	30
19	Computer Network Architects	$125,010	$60.10	50
20	Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary	$121,780	*	120

Ranked by median; an occupation whose median BLS withholds or top-codes in this area cannot appear here, however well it pays.

20 largest occupations in La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN

Rank	Occupation	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient	Median annual
1	Registered Nurses in Wisconsin	2,920	34.58	1.59	$98,370
2	Retail Salespersons in Wisconsin	2,290	27.18	1.08	$34,090
3	Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Wisconsin	2,130	25.28	0.91	$37,140
4	Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Wisconsin	2,100	24.91	1.88	$60,300
5	Cashiers in Wisconsin	2,020	23.90	1.20	$30,900
6	Fast Food and Counter Workers in Wisconsin	1,960	23.22	0.94	$28,280
7	Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Wisconsin	1,620	19.20	1.01	$42,800
8	Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Wisconsin	1,530	18.12	1.27	$36,130
9	Office Clerks, General in Wisconsin	1,500	17.80	1.12	$45,220
10	Stockers and Order Fillers in Wisconsin	1,470	17.43	0.96	$34,150
11	Waiters and Waitresses in Wisconsin	1,270	15.03	1.03	$28,380
12	Nursing Assistants in Wisconsin	1,250	14.81	1.59	$43,510
13	Bartenders in Wisconsin	1,200	14.17	2.91	$23,130
13	Customer Service Representatives in Wisconsin	1,200	14.21	0.85	$45,820
15	General and Operations Managers in Wisconsin	960	11.38	0.51	$102,670
16	Food Batchmakers	930	10.97	9.77	$46,940
17	Maintenance and Repair Workers, General in Wisconsin	920	10.94	1.11	$53,160
18	Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products in Wisconsin	880	10.44	1.31	$62,110
19	Cooks, Restaurant in Wisconsin	860	10.21	1.13	$36,260
20	Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary in Wisconsin	850	10.06	1.10	$38,710

Most concentrated occupations in La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN

The 10 occupations with the highest location quotient among those employing at least 100 people in the area. A quotient of 2.00 means the occupation's share of local jobs is twice its national share.

Rank	Occupation	Location quotient	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Median annual
1	Food Batchmakers	9.77	930	10.97	$46,940
2	Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	5.06	170	1.96	$50,590
3	Printing Press Operators	3.89	300	3.61	$45,480
4	Bartenders in Wisconsin	2.91	1,200	14.17	$23,130
5	Physician Assistants	2.67	230	2.78	*
6	Library Technicians	2.63	100	1.16	$38,310
7	Ophthalmic Medical Technicians	2.51	100	1.15	$56,010
8	First-Line Supervisors of Personal Service Workers	2.44	150	1.79	$46,790
9	Healthcare Social Workers	2.17	220	2.62	$62,560
10	Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	2.09	190	2.30	$38,290

Occupation groups in La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN

Group	Median annual	Mean annual	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Management	$117,050	$129,180	4,260	50.51	0.71
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical	$94,260	$121,700	7,870	93.32	1.48
Architecture and Engineering	$92,320	$96,070	1,140	13.55	0.80
Computer and Mathematical	$81,050	$91,530	1,750	20.79	0.61
Life, Physical, and Social Science	$77,940	$88,070	770	9.18	0.97
Business and Financial Operations	$75,370	$82,020	4,060	48.16	0.71
Legal	$69,220	$97,190	290	3.38	0.40
Construction and Extraction	$62,690	$67,430	3,020	35.80	0.87
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair	$60,310	$62,950	3,420	40.52	1.04
Community and Social Service	$59,940	$61,030	1,480	17.59	1.02
Educational Instruction and Library	$59,370	$58,670	5,170	61.23	1.05
Protective Service	$47,130	$53,210	1,350	16.05	0.66
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media	$46,950	$54,640	990	11.71	0.89
Office and Administrative Support	$46,740	$48,550	9,150	108.50	0.95
Production	$46,740	$50,040	5,990	71.05	1.29
Transportation and Material Moving	$45,390	$47,750	8,350	98.93	1.12
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry	$44,480	$44,040	90	1.05	0.38
Healthcare Support	$38,820	$41,460	4,770	56.52	1.11
Sales and Related	$36,820	$48,380	7,460	88.46	1.02
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance	$36,480	$39,110	2,810	33.25	1.14
Personal Care and Service	$34,200	$36,760	1,900	22.49	1.07
Food Preparation and Serving Related	$29,590	$31,970	8,260	97.95	1.11

Every occupation in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and the area's place among the state's metros, is on the state profiles. All 309 published occupations for this area are in the wage explorer; other metros are on the metros hub.

Source and notes

Data: BLS OEWS May 2025, released 2026-05-15. Cross-industry estimates, all ownerships. BLS page: OEWS La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN estimates (area 29100).

*: Wage estimate not available.

Annual wages assume 2,080 hours a year at the hourly rate; occupations BLS publishes on one basis only show an en dash (–) on the other.
Employment is rounded to the nearest 10 by BLS. Where BLS withholds a cell, nothing is estimated in its place.
Jobs per 1,000 is the occupation's employment per 1,000 jobs in the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN area; the location quotient is that share divided by the national share.
The concentration table keeps only occupations with employment of 100 or more in the area, so a quotient built on a handful of rounded jobs cannot top it.
The area spans Wisconsin and Minnesota; its figures are the whole MSA, as BLS publishes them, under the primary state Wisconsin.