Best Places to Buy Rental Property in Wisconsin (2026)

Beloit leads Wisconsin on gross yield at 8.1 percent, not because it is the cheapest city here (that is Wisconsin Rapids at $175,000) but because its $1,350 median asking rent is high for a $200,000 home. The rental mix matters. In Milwaukee the house median asking rent is $1,750 against $1,400 for all listings. That gap belongs in a house-to-house comparison, house rent against house sale prices, not on top of the mixed-sale ratio in the table. Measured against the whole state, these are cheap markets: a median of $270,000 here against $340,000 statewide. The table shows the 20 highest-yielding markets among 38 Wisconsin cities meeting the coverage requirements; the yield range above describes the markets shown. A second table lists one city with enough closings to price but too few rental listings to rank.

The ranking

Gross yield here is an asking rental yield screen: twelve times the median asking rent over the median closed price, before taxes, insurance, vacancy, management or repairs. Sales use municipal boundaries. Rental listings use the associated city name and may cover a wider postal area. The ratio therefore compares related, but not perfectly matched, market samples, and a home bought at the median price does not necessarily earn the median rent. Confirmed-close medians appear where at least 30 confirmed lease closes were recorded in the window.

City by city

1. Beloit, 8.1 percent gross

At $200,000 to buy and $1,350 a month to rent, Beloit yields 8.1 percent gross on 285 tracked closings. Full detail is on the Beloit market page.

2. Milwaukee, 7.6 percent gross

Milwaukee's rental sample is 73 percent apartments and condos while its sales are mostly houses, so the $1,400 asking median understates what a house rents for there: houses asked $1,750. Homes in Milwaukee closed at a median of $220,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,400, a gross yield of 7.6 percent. See the Milwaukee page for the property mix and the price band.

3. Sheboygan, 7.4 percent gross

Sheboygan ranks third on yield but only eighth on entry price: the $1,445 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. The numbers: $235,000 median closed price across 362 closings, $1,445 median asking rent across 394 listings, 7.4 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $167 per square foot. The Sheboygan market page carries the monthly figures.

4. Wisconsin Rapids, 6.9 percent gross

Wisconsin Rapids's rental sample is 61 percent apartments and condos while its sales are mostly houses, so the $1,005 asking median understates what a house rents for there: houses asked $1,588. Homes in Wisconsin Rapids closed at a median of $175,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,005, a gross yield of 6.9 percent. Houses there closed at about $131 per square foot. See the Wisconsin Rapids page for the property mix and the price band.

5. Racine, 6.8 percent gross

Read Racine's $1,250 rent as an apartment figure: 63 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $1,795. The numbers: $219,950 median closed price across 480 closings, $1,250 median asking rent across 548 listings, 6.8 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $158 per square foot. The Racine market page carries the monthly figures.

6. Kenosha, 6.7 percent gross

Rent is what puts Kenosha sixth here; on price alone it would sit twelfth of 20. The numbers: $286,500 median closed price across 524 closings, $1,595 median asking rent across 477 listings, 6.7 percent gross. Full detail is on the Kenosha market page.

7. Oshkosh, 6.5 percent gross

Read Oshkosh's $1,199 rent as an apartment figure: 72 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $1,600. At $222,250 to buy and $1,199 a month to rent, Oshkosh yields 6.5 percent gross on 486 tracked closings. See the Oshkosh page for the property mix and the price band.

8. West Allis, 6.4 percent gross

West Allis's rental sample is 65 percent apartments and condos while its sales are mostly houses, so the $1,525 asking median understates what a house rents for there. At $285,000 to buy and $1,525 a month to rent, West Allis yields 6.4 percent gross on 278 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $214 per square foot. See the West Allis page for the property mix and the price band.

9. Wausau, 6.4 percent gross

The numbers: $223,500 median closed price across 315 closings, $1,195 median asking rent across 662 listings, 6.4 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $140 per square foot. The Wausau market page carries the monthly figures.

10. Appleton, 6.3 percent gross

Appleton ranks tenth on yield but only fifteenth on entry price: the $1,600 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. At $304,500 to buy and $1,600 a month to rent, Appleton yields 6.3 percent gross on 652 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $176 per square foot. Full detail is on the Appleton market page.

11. La Crosse, 6.1 percent gross

Read La Crosse's $1,295 rent as an apartment figure: 77 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $1,750. Homes in La Crosse closed at a median of $255,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,295, a gross yield of 6.1 percent. Houses there closed at about $177 per square foot. Full detail is on the La Crosse market page.

12. Verona, 5.8 percent gross

Verona ranks twelfth on yield but only nineteenth on entry price: the $2,350 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. Homes in Verona closed at a median of $484,900 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,350, a gross yield of 5.8 percent. The Verona market page carries the monthly figures.

13. New Richmond, 5.7 percent gross

Homes in New Richmond closed at a median of $363,900 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,725, a gross yield of 5.7 percent. Full detail is on the New Richmond market page.

14. Fond Du Lac, 5.6 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Fond Du Lac far: it is eighth cheapest on this list and fourteenth on yield, with rent of $1,100 against a $235,000 median price. Homes in Fond Du Lac closed at a median of $235,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,100, a gross yield of 5.6 percent. See the Fond Du Lac page for the property mix and the price band.

15. Lake Geneva, 5.6 percent gross

The numbers: $416,597 median closed price across 224 closings, $1,950 median asking rent across 115 listings, 5.6 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $278 per square foot. Full detail is on the Lake Geneva market page.

16. Janesville, 5.5 percent gross

Read Janesville's $1,325 rent as an apartment figure: 72 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $1,900. The numbers: $289,000 median closed price across 566 closings, $1,325 median asking rent across 371 listings, 5.5 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $168 per square foot. The Janesville market page carries the monthly figures.

17. Manitowoc, 5.4 percent gross

Manitowoc is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: seventh on price, seventeenth on yield, because a $225,000 home there rents for only $1,010. Homes in Manitowoc closed at a median of $225,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,010, a gross yield of 5.4 percent. Houses there closed at about $150 per square foot. Full detail is on the Manitowoc market page.

18. Neenah, 5.4 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Neenah far: it is fourteenth cheapest on this list and eighteenth on yield, with rent of $1,297 against a $290,000 median price. At $290,000 to buy and $1,297 a month to rent, Neenah yields 5.4 percent gross on 195 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $180 per square foot. The Neenah market page carries the monthly figures.

19. Oak Creek, 5.4 percent gross

Read Oak Creek's $1,640 rent as an apartment figure: 90 percent of its listings are apartments or condos. Homes in Oak Creek closed at a median of $367,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,640, a gross yield of 5.4 percent. See the Oak Creek page for the property mix and the price band.

20. Brookfield, 5.4 percent gross

Homes in Brookfield closed at a median of $547,500 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,445, a gross yield of 5.4 percent. Houses there closed at about $238 per square foot. See the Brookfield page for the property mix and the price band.

Priced, but too few rentals to rank

Resideline can price these cities but cannot yet rank them on rent: each has 100 or more closings and fewer than 50 rental listings in the window.

How this ranking is built

• •Cities: every Wisconsin city where Resideline tracked at least 100 closings inside the municipal boundary in its reporting window (six or twelve months) and at least 50 rental listings under the city's name since September 10, 2025: 38 cities qualify and the table shows the 20 highest-yielding.
• •Prices: the median price homes closed at inside the city limits, from Resideline's tracked closings; the state comparison uses the statewide median of $340,000 across 40,371 closings.
• •Rents: the median advertised rent on rental listings Resideline tracked in the last twelve months, all property types, measured on the listings that carry the city's name (a postal footprint, wider than the city line in some places).
• •Confirmed-close medians: Observed rent blends two kinds of record: confirmed lease closes extracted from property records, and the final asking rent on listings that left Resideline tracking without a recorded close. Where a city has at least 30 confirmed closes in the window, their median is printed beside the asking figure; in the last twelve months about a quarter of Resideline's close episodes are confirmed closes. The asking and confirmed-close samples are separate, not paired, so a difference between their medians is not a measured gap on the same listings.
• •What is missing: taxes, insurance, vacancy, management and repairs, which turn a gross yield into a net one, and the unit mix, which differs between what sells and what rents.

Sources and related pages

• •Resideline tracked closings inside city limits (window per city, updated September 10, 2026) and rental listings since September 10, 2025; confirmed lease closes extracted from property records.
• •More Wisconsin rankings: Cheapest cities to buy a house in Wisconsin ranks the same kind of list with each city's price per square foot for houses, realized appreciation and days to contract beside the median, and Cap Rate by City ranks the Wisconsin cities Resideline tracks by gross rental yield. The Wisconsin housing market hub carries the statewide figures and the largest Wisconsin markets by closings.
• •Asking rent vs observed rent compares live asking rents with final asking rents under that study's own definition; it says nothing about confirmed lease closes.

Prepared with Resideline's research pipeline and reviewed by Jeffrey Batista, Resideline's founder.