Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Chippewa Falls is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B− overall, 257th among Wisconsin's 357 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is safety: it reports less crime per resident than 59% of U.S. towns. Its lowest everyday mark is in incomes: the median household income is $58K, and 15% of residents live below the poverty line. A typical home there costs about $338K, 4.5 years of the Eau Claire metro’s $75K median household income. 26% of working residents work locally in Chippewa Falls, where Wisconsin’s towns sit at 8.2% and U.S. towns at 8%. Chippewa Falls has 9 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Marsh Rainbow Arch Bridge and Cook-Rutledge House. Only 50 of Wisconsin’s 879 towns score higher on the outdoors.
Where Chippewa Falls beats most towns.
Census counts: 2,507 in 1870, 14,731 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1868 and 2 maps from 1934 on.
9 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Wisconsin), ordered by how far Chippewa Falls is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Chippewa Falls, 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 Chippewa Falls.
Chippewa Falls draws workers from Eau Claire and beyond, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and is safe by national standards but not by Wisconsin’s.
9,802 jobs are based in Chippewa Falls, 1.6 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
About one in 4 of Chippewa Falls’s working residents works in town. The average trip to work in Chippewa Falls is 19 minutes. The top destinations are Eau Claire (27%), Lake Hallie (5%) and Altoona (3%).
| Chippewa Falls | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 19 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $58,000 | $88,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 10% | 12% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District. Two of its 15 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chippewa Falls MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 999 | C+ |
| Chippewa Falls HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,451 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WI on state tests and graduation
8.1 miles of trail in 10 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Casper Park, at 317 acres. Chippewa Falls’ trail density is 0.7 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Irvine Park | 2 mi | 281 |
| 2. Happy Tails Dog Park | 0.9 mi | 40 |
| 3. Marshall Park | 0.3 mi | 14 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The Eau Claire Rgnl Ap weather station, 7 miles away, records that about 10 days a year reach 90°: fewer than most of the country, but more than 86% of Wisconsin places with climate records.
Chippewa Falls has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 81°, January nights drop to 5° and about 55 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 67% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 10 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Chippewa Falls.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 15 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 54% of Wisconsin’s graded towns.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Against the 8,289 U.S. towns with household incomes like Chippewa Falls’s, it is healthier than 78%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
Chippewa Falls beats the Wisconsin average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 20% of Chippewa Falls adults binge drink.
| Chippewa Falls | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 20% | 16% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 38% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 75% | 78% | 79% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 26% | 25% |
| What stands out | Chippewa Falls | WI |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 12.8% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
51% of households own their home in Chippewa Falls. The typical Chippewa Falls home is worth about $338,000, up 2.8% in a year, close to the Wisconsin typical home.
| Chippewa Falls | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 51% | 74% | 73% |
| Median rent | $910 a month | $1,080 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of Chippewa Falls
About 3 of every 100 Chippewa Falls residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Wisconsin.
Where Chippewa Falls’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
9 places in Chippewa Falls on the National Register of Historic Places.
23 notable people were born in Chippewa Falls.
City in Wisconsin, United States
Chippewa Falls ( ) is a city located on the Chippewa River in Chippewa County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 14,731 in the 2020 census. Incorporated as a city in 1869, it is the county seat of Chippewa County. The city's name originated from its location on the Chippewa River, which is named after the Ojibwe. It is a principal city of the Eau Claire–Chippewa Falls metropolitan area. Chippewa Falls is the birthplace of Seymour Cray, known as the "father of supercomputing", and the headquarters for the original Cray Research. It is also the home of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company, the Heyde Center for the Arts, a showcase venue for artists and performers; Irvine Park, and…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Chippewa Falls.
| Town | WI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chippewa Falls | #257 | B− | B− | B | B− | B− |
| Eagle Point | #253 | B− | C+ | — | B− | B− |
| Lake Hallie | #273 | B− | C+ | — | B− | B− |
| Wheaton | #161 | B+ | B− | — | B− | B |
| Tilden | — | — | B | — | B− | B− |
| Lake Wissota | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Lafayette | #312 | C+ | C+ | — | B− | B− |
Tilden has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Eagle Point, Lake Hallie, Wheaton, Tilden and Lafayette report no FBI crime data of their own. Lake Wissota isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Chippewa Falls with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Chippewa Falls grades B− overall, better than 50% of U.S. towns and #257 of 357 in Wisconsin. It grades B− for health, B for safety and B− for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
23 notable people were born here, including Seymour Cray and Alexander Wiley.
