La Crosse County, Wisconsin

Awards & Rankings

La Crosse County is continuously being recognized by many prestigious organizations and magazines for its high quality of life and business friendly attitude.  The following list will  give you an idea of some of the more recent accolades for the area.

La Crosse Ranked 16th in the "50 Smartest Places to Live" ranking by Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine.  That was the highest ranking for a Wisconsin City.  They looked at criteria such as housing prices, cost of living, economic vitality, education, health care, the local arts scene, and recreational facilities.  Click the link below to read the article:

In a national ranking done by a private research firm, the La Crosse area was ranked as the nation's seventh safest metropolitan area for 2005.  This ranking was based on crime statistics, and is a reflection of the high-quality police forces in the area.

Inc. Magazine - "Best Places for Doing Business"

In the May 2005 issue of Inc. Magazine, La Crosse was ranked 15th "Best Place for Doing Business in America" out of 274 cities.  The listing is base upon a review of three-year trends, current job growth, and balance among industries.

Forbes Magazine - "Best Cities for Business & Careers"

Forbes ranks La Crosse 25th among small metropolitan areas in its annual rankings of best cities for business and careers (among 168 smaller metro areas).  Factors that were considered include educational levels, cost of doing business, cost of living, crime rate, culture and leisure, income growth, job growth, and net migration (July 2005)

Expansion Management Magazine - ranked the La Crosse MSA as a 5-Star Quality of Life Metropolitan Area.  This list was based on 9 quality of life categories.

Wisconsin ranked as the 9th Healthiest State in 2004 by the United Health Foundation.

La Crosse ranked 16th Lowest Crime City in America (among metro areas with populations of 55,000 to 200,000) by BestPlaces.com (April 2004).

La Crosse ranked as one of "America's Least Stressful Cities" by Sperling's Best Places (January 2004)

The University of Wisconsin - La Crosse ranked 19th Best Value Public College in the United States by Kiplinger's (Fall, 2003).

La Crosse ranked Best Small Metro Area in Wisconsin for Job Creation by the Milken Institute (July 2003).

La Crosse ranked one of the Five Best Places for Blind and Visually Impaired People to Live by the American Foundation for the Blind (June 2003).