By the numbers
The rental vacancy rate in Wisconsin reached its lowest level in over 30 years last year, dropping by one full percentage point between 2023 and 2024, figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show.
Rental vacancy measures the percentage of total rental units, including both houses and apartments, that are listed as “for rent.” Decreasing levels of vacancy mean that the rental market is tightening, while increasing vacancy means that supply is more readily available.
Between 2023 and 2024, the most recent year for which data are available, rental vacancy fell from 5.1 percent to 4.1 percent. That’s the lowest level it has reached since 1994.
Wisconsin reached its highest level of rental vacancy in 2004 at 9.1 percent and returned to that level in 2009. Since the Great Recession and associated housing market crash, however, rental vacancy in the state has been steadily dropping.
The earliest year for which state-level vacancy data are available is 1986, when the vacancy rate was 4.7 percent. Vacancy dipped as low as 3.3 percent in 1990 before trending upwards.
