Marathon County, WI

County Profile

138,403 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Marathon County, WI.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

71out of 100
Area Score
Top 19% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 14% of 1,255 counties measured75
SchoolsTop 38% of 973 counties measured61
Growth766th of 1,226 counties measured43
Housing affordabilityTop 22% of 1,255 counties measured100
Climate1170th of 1,254 counties measured54
Physical resilienceTop 13% of 1,255 counties measured86
Access1082nd of 1,255 counties measured57
Economic stabilityTop 11% of 1,255 counties measured89
The quick read

Marathon County ranks in the top 14% of published profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.1% and median household income of $77,884.

Residential permitting has slowed: 340 units authorized over the past twelve months, 19% below the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published profiles, placing Marathon County in the top 13% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
138,403
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$77,884
Top 21% nationally
Density
90/sq mi
1545.2 sq mi of land
Median age
41.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Marathon County
Wisconsin
Metro area
Wausau, WI
Nearest major airport
ATW
75 mi · Appleton Intl
Median home value
$219,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.1% is lower than 92% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment grew 0.2% over the past year, to 72,614 employed residents.

28% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 72% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$2,218$77,884Top 21%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$924$41,413Top 21%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate8.7%Bottom 16%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute20.5 minBottom 17%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher28.1%Top 28%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment72,614Top 34%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.4%Bottom 41%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.2%Top 27%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force74,901Top 35%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation66.9%Top 11%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.2%Top 40%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate3.1%Bottom 8%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/063.51.8
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.1% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202478k68k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $77,884 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Wausau, WI
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators2,110$45,670
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand1,840$43,460
Registered Nurses1,830$89,190
Cashiers1,660$30,480
Retail Salespersons1,660$34,160
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers1,460$58,520

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

42% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 37% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.9 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
49
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
41.6%
Top 34% in Wisconsin
Reading proficiency
37.5%
Top 50% in Wisconsin
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
West HighWausau School District1,47015.3
D C Everest HighD C Everest Area School District1,33516.9
John Muir MiddleWausau School District96713.139%33%
East HighWausau School District89314.2
D C Everest Junior HighD C Everest Area School District84815.729%35%
D C Everest MiddleD C Everest Area School District84414.1
Mosinee MiddleMosinee School District68514.345%37%
Horace Mann MiddleWausau School District63513.537%37%
Mosinee ElementaryMosinee School District63212.962%37%
Mosinee HighMosinee School District54812.7
Weston ElementaryD C Everest Area School District51914.032%27%
G D Jones ElementaryWausau School District49213.721%20%

36.7% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Wisconsin’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $999 takes 15% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.8 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
15.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$999
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$219,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.82Bottom 43%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate73.3%Bottom 43%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±12660,910Top 15%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$28$999Top 31%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$3,992$219,600Top 37%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income15.4%Bottom 31%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.0%Bottom 5%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
43/ 100
Ranks 766 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 1% since 2020, reaching 139,091 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.

At 2.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
340
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.5
Bottom 43% nationally
Year over year
−19%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
32.6%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024139k138k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2022202320242025428298
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+19%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 80°F and January a low of 7°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 33.9 inches, including 64.3 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 37, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station WAUSAU DWTN AP, 6.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index53.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation33.9"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall64.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low7°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high80°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index37.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing55°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
37
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
53
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

86 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and hail.

LightningModerate
HailModerate
Inland floodingModerate
TornadoModerate
Strong windModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, winter weather, heat wave, landslide, ice storm, wildfire, earthquake.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Marathon County records 1.7 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 15.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 12.3 per 100,000 residents in Marathon County.

Homicide
1.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
15.9
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
12.3
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
23.8
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Marathon County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Marathon County rather than Marathon County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 75 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Appleton IntlATW75 mi8,003 ft
Chippewa Valley RgnlEAU85 mi8,101 ft
Green Bay/Austin Straubel IntlGRB85 mi8,700 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
71
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.