Sell Your Commercial Property In Milwaukee County, WI

Who rents in Milwaukee County

Renters head 196,633 of the 392,399 occupied households in Milwaukee County, a 50.1% share in the 2020-2024 ACS. That is one of the higher renter shares among Wisconsin counties, and it sits well above many suburban Wisconsin markets. Milwaukee city alone accounts for 135,297 renter households, 68.8% of the Milwaukee County total.

The remaining renter base spreads across five smaller cities. West Allis counts 12,606 renter households and Wauwatosa 8,708, while Franklin, at 22.7% renters, and Oak Creek, at 42.5%, lean more toward owner-occupants than Milwaukee County as a whole.

Rents, growth and affordability

Milwaukee County's median gross rent climbed 25.1%, from $880 to $1,101, between the 2015-2019 and 2020-2024 surveys. Population fell 2.6% over the same span, to 926,331 residents, even as median household income rose 27.3% to $64,435.

Renter households in Milwaukee County grew only 1.8%, adding 3,512 households, while units in 5+ unit buildings rose 9.9%, an increase of 10,620 units. That supply growth lines up with a 6.1% rental vacancy rate countywide.

Affordability pressure is real: 48.4% of Milwaukee County renters paid 30% or more of income on gross rent in the 2020-2024 ACS. HUD's FY2027 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent for the Milwaukee-Waukesha area is $1,263, which runs $162 above the county median gross rent.

City-by-city comparison

Milwaukee city carries the deepest renter base and the highest vacancy of the group, at 6.9%. Franklin and Oak Creek sit at the other extreme, with vacancy under 4% and renter shares below 43%.

Rent ranges from $1,007 in West Allis to $1,458 in Franklin, a $451 spread across Milwaukee County suburbs. Greenfield posts the highest 5+ unit share at 40.4%, ahead of Oak Creek's 34.1% and Milwaukee city's 27.2%.

Vacancy varies just as sharply. Oak Creek runs 1.9% and Greenfield 2.9%, while West Allis reaches 7.0% and Milwaukee city 6.9%. West Allis pairs that higher vacancy with the lowest rent in the table, at $1,007.

Property taxes and assessment in Milwaukee County

Wisconsin assesses non-agricultural property, including apartment buildings, at market value as of January 1 each year, and state law requires every municipality to stay within 10% of market value once every five years, per the Wisconsin Department of Revenue. A recorded sale price is treated as strong evidence of value, so a sale can lift the next January's assessment.

Rates vary by municipality within Milwaukee County. The City of Milwaukee Assessor's 2025 assessment-year chart lists a gross rate of $22.42 and a net effective rate near $20.80 per $1,000 of assessed value, covering city, school, MATC, MMSD and state/county components. Other Milwaukee County cities and villages set their own municipal rates on the same market-value basis.

What this means if you sell in Milwaukee County

When you sell commercial property in Milwaukee County, WI, you sell into a market where renters already outnumber a straight majority of households, at 50.1%, and 27.5% of units sit in 5+ unit buildings. The 6.1% rental vacancy rate is the counterweight buyers will underwrite against. A Franklin or Oak Creek building in a sub-4% vacancy market can draw a different buyer than a Milwaukee city complex near 6.9%.

Rent control is not a factor: Wis. Stat. 66.1015 bars any Wisconsin city, village, town or county from regulating rent, so Milwaukee County owners set rents by lease terms and local demand. Buyers will still test your rent roll against the county's 48.4% rent-burden rate and the $162 gap to HUD's FY2027 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent.

As a multifamily buyer active in Milwaukee County, we review 5+ unit buildings from Milwaukee city to West Allis and Wauwatosa as they stand today. Send a current rent roll, a T-12 and the latest assessment notice, and we will price the building on those numbers.