Best PlacesMarathon County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Marathon County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime read low across the board, which puts the choice down to which part suits you. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Marathon County ranks 374th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It earns the spot by being affordable and steady rather than flashy: everyday costs run well below the national average, and crime is low. The trade is property taxes: the nearest large city and its jobs, flights, and culture are a drive away.
The best neighborhoods in Marathon County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Marathon County
The parts of Marathon County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Kronenwetter & Hatley
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and crime runs lower.
Rib Mountain
Biking is better, though it is noisier.
Mosinee
Advertised internet is slower and fewer households have young kids.
Weston
Scores close to Mosinee, except that schools score lower here.
Stratford, Spencer & Marshfield
Prices have run up less, though streets are more car-dependent.
Edgar
Fewer adults hold degrees and transit reaches fewer jobs.
Athens
More homes sit empty and commutes are longer.
Wausau
Tree cover is thinner.
Scores across Marathon County run from about the 25th to the 90th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Marathon County's strengths and weaknesses
Marathon County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Low disaster risk, cheap car insurance, and heat safety carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Property taxes, childcare costs, and noise hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Marathon County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 94% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of counties
Where Marathon County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,055 a month, better than only 14% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 21% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 27% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 28% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Marathon County
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Marathon County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,407, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Marathon County's effective rate of 1.42%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Marathon County
Marathon County's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Marathon County.
Who works in Marathon County, and how
Work in Marathon County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Marathon County
Marathon County has more parkland per resident than 96% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 76% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Marathon County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Marathon County growing, and who is moving in?
Marathon County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Portage County, WI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Marathon County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Marathon County, month by month
Marathon County sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 18° | 12° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 58° | 48° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Marathon County
The nearest airport, Central Wisconsin, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 163 miles away.
The best schools in and around Marathon County
Schools across Marathon County average a C+, better than 50% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Riverside ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Odyssey ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Grant ElementaryA · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marathon Venture AcademyA− · 53% proficient
- Stratford MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
- Mosinee MiddleB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- D C Everest Idea SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Marshfield HighB− · 43% proficient
- Stratford HighB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Marathon County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Marathon County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Marathon County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Marathon County suits
Families
Schools land around the 50th percentile and crime safety beats 90%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 81% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 13% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 73% of counties and health care access beats 87%.
Common questions about living in Marathon County
Is Marathon County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Marathon County ranks 374th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, cheap car insurance, and heat safety, and lowest on property taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Marathon County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $224,473. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $82,407 median income, cost of living beats 81% of counties.
Is Marathon County safe?
Yes, Marathon County is safer than 90% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $255 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Marathon County?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 26 with lows near 12. That works out to about 118 pleasant days a year, more than 73% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Marathon County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Kronenwetter & Hatley, Rib Mountain, and Mosinee. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Marathon County good for families?
Schools beat 50% of counties, crime safety beats 90%, and childcare runs $1,055 a month.
Is Marathon County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 81% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 76% of counties. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Marathon County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Marathon County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Marathon County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Marathon County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Marathon County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Marathon County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Marathon County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Marathon County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Marathon County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.