February in Wisconsin is anything but hot, except when you are talking about the housing market.

According to data from Realtor.com, several Wisconsin cities rank among the top 20 hottest housing markets in the country, including Wausau, Appleton, Milwaukee, Janesville and Oshkosh.

Kenosha takes the top spot, ranked as Realtor.com’s Hottest Metro in the United States.

The hotness metric looks at market demand as well as how quickly homes sell. The list is filled with Midwestern cities where demand for housing remains high, but the overall number of new builds is low compared to other regions of the country.

In Kenosha County, population growth is stagnant (hovering around 170,000 residents since 2010) but new industry continues to move into the area, creating housing demand.

Wendy Gauss is a Kenosha-based Realtor and is also President of the Southshore Realtors Association. Gauss says having so much attention focused on her home territory has taken some getting used to.

“I was born and raised here, so these types of statistics still kind of blows my mind as a resident. As a realtor, we do have a lot of growth in our area,” said Gauss.

Gauss said an increase in industry and more people looking for a lower cost of living in Wisconsin is growing demand.

“A hot housing market is houses not staying on the market very long. You see a house get listed and literally within 24 to 48 hours it’s going to be under contract.” Said Gauss.

Nicole Ryf is President of the Kenosha Area Business Alliance. Ryf said having a hot housing market is a sign that growth is happening in the area. However, Ryf believes a lack of housing is not good for economic growth.

Ryf said a new task force has been formed within the county to encourage new builds.

“We in Kenosha County, similar to a lot of communities across the country, had pretty significant stagnation in new housing developments really since the recession. Our communities are recognizing that and saying we need to start fostering all sorts of housing projects to be built here,” said Ryf.

Ryf said that more Chicago-area residents are also driving growth in housing demand. She said many come because of jobs in the Kenosha area, while others want to move to Kenosha for a lower cost of living and then commute back into Illinois each day.

“We know the cost of living there is significantly higher than it is here; I will say that does drive up our prices here a little bit. Even as you go north, you might see prices that are a little lower than in Kenosha County. That beings said, we are still very competitive compared to these larger metro areas,” said Ryf.

Kenosha’s proximity between Chicago and Milwaukee remains a major selling point for the Kenosha Area Business Association as it works to attract more business to the region.