Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 12,916, settled in 1843. 2.5 times the nonprofits per person than the typical Wisconsin town.
Trash day: look up yoursFew places in the country grade higher. Cedarburg earns an A+, 10th among Wisconsin's 357 graded towns. Its schools rank ahead of 96% of Wisconsin towns, residents are healthier than 90% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates, and the median household earns $85K. The exception is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $567K, 7.2 years of the Milwaukee metro’s $78K median household income. 58% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Cedarburg, against 32% in Wisconsin’s towns and 29% across U.S. towns. On civic life, just 16 of Wisconsin’s 869 towns do better. Cedarburg has 5 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Cedarburg Mill and Hilgen and Wittenberg Woolen Mill.
Where Cedarburg beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Thorson Elementary | PK–5 | 529 |
| Parkview Elementary | PK–5 | 504 |
| Westlawn Elementary | PK–5 | 297 |
| Widest gap | Cedarburg | WI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6.8% | 12.1% |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Wisconsin), ordered by how far Cedarburg is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 945 in 1880, 12,121 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1846 and 3 maps from 1904 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cedarburg. Close and well known come first.
18 mi Stadium & arenaFiserv Forum
19 mi MuseumMilwaukee Art Museum350K visitors a year
18 mi Stadium & arenaUW–Milwaukee Panther Arena
18 mi MuseumNature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin
19 mi MuseumHarley-Davidson Museum300K visitors a year
19 mi Zoo & aquariumMilwaukee County ZooFiserv Forum: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Milwaukee Art Museum: Michael Hicks (Mulad), CC BY 2.0 · UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena: Shadowlink1014, Public domain · Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin: The original uploader was Sulfur at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0 · Harley-Davidson Museum: Dori, CC BY-SA 3.0 us · Milwaukee County Zoo: Awkwafaba, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Cedarburg, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Cedarburg.
Cedarburg has schools in the top 5% of Wisconsin and has colder winter nights than most of the country, though not than most of Wisconsin; it also has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Wisconsin.
At 7.2 years of the Milwaukee metro’s $78K median household income, the typical home (about $567K) costs more against local pay than in 95% of Wisconsin towns; that ratio is one input to that grade. The median property tax bill is $5,787, against $3,792 across Wisconsin, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The typical home value in Cedarburg is about $567,000, up 6.5% in a year, 68% above the Wisconsin typical home. 62% of Cedarburg households are owner-occupiers. In Cedarburg, 85% of sales closed above the list price.
| Cedarburg | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 62% | 74% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,116 a month | $1,076 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
That grade ranks #4 of the 362 Wisconsin towns we grade for schools. It comes with a C− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $567K.
Public schools: the Cedarburg School District. Of its 8 schools, three are listed below, each with the reason. 4 public schools serve Cedarburg, with 2,022 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Webster MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 692 | A+ |
| Cedarburg HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,073 | A |
| Parkview ElementaryTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 504 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WI on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with Wisconsin is food insecurity: 6.8% of its 9,361 adults worry about having enough food, against 12.1% statewide.
Among adults in Cedarburg, 28% sleep under 7 hours. The town does better than the Wisconsin average on 19 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 1.
| Cedarburg | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 30% | 33% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 32% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 17% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 38% | 35% |
| What stands out | Cedarburg | WI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6.8% | 12.1% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 4.9% | 8% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.2% | 8.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Count the trails in 15 parks and preserves and they come to 2.8 miles. The biggest park or preserve is Fireman's Park, at 34 acres. For Cedarburg, the trail network density is 0.6 miles per square mile.
| Cedarburg | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.3% | 3.8% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Centennial Park | 0.7 mi | 23 |
| 2. Willowbrooke Park | 0.3 mi | 9 |
| 3. Fireman's Park | — | 34 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The rate of thefts and burglaries for Cedarburg comes to 3.4 per 1,000 residents. Its rate of reported violence is 1.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Cedarburg | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.4 per 1,000 residents | 6.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.2 per 1,000 residents | 1.1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The natural-hazard score from FEMA in Cedarburg is 21 of 100. Since 1986, 4 flood insurance claims have been paid out in the town. Expected losses in Cedarburg break down as 49% from inland flooding and 30% from cold waves. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Cedarburg after 3 declared disasters, most recently in 2008.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
January nights average 13.4°: colder than most of the country, but milder than 96% of Wisconsin places with climate records; July afternoons average 80.8°.
Cedarburg’s January low stands at 13°F. About 54 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Cedarburg | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 81°F | 82°F | 85°F |
| January low | 13°F | 11°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Most people who work leave Cedarburg to do it: just 11% work in town. In Cedarburg, 4.7% of residents live below the poverty line. This Wisconsin town had 4,424 jobs in 2023, up 338 from 2013. For half of commuters, work is under 13 miles away.
| Cedarburg | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 16% | 12% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 4.7% | 6.4% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 11% | 8.2% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
2 within 15 miles of the center of Cedarburg
About 4 of every 100 Cedarburg residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Wisconsin.
5 places in Cedarburg on the National Register of Historic Places.
8 notable people were born in Cedarburg.
City in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin
Cedarburg ( SEE-dər-burg) is a city in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. Located about 20 miles (32 km) north of Milwaukee and in close proximity to Interstate 43, it is a suburb in the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The city incorporated in 1885, and at the time of the 2020 census the population was 12,121. Like many of Ozaukee County's cities and villages, the City of Cedarburg began as a mill town. German immigrants began building hydropowered gristmills and woolen mills along Cedar Creek in the 1840s. The community that sprang up around the mills is now downtown Cedarburg. The city was distinctly German into the early 20th century, with several Lutheran churches, a brewery, a Euro…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Cedarburg.
At #10 in WI, it grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; Mequon (A) comes closest.
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Cedarburg grades A+ overall, better than 98% of U.S. towns and #10 of 357 in Wisconsin. It grades A for health, A for safety and A+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
8 notable people were born here, including Amadeus William Grabau and Josh Thompson.
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