Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Cottage Grove grades B− overall, ranked 275th of 357 in Wisconsin, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. It is healthier than 89% of U.S. towns and natural-hazard risk is low. On the other side, the typical home is worth about $398K, 4.5 years of the Madison metro’s $89K median household income. Cottage Grove’s median rent is $1,668 a month, above both Wisconsin’s towns ($1,076 a month) and U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). Hammond Farmstead is on the National Register of Historic Places. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 78% of U.S. towns.
Where Cottage Grove beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Cottage Grove | WI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 5.9% | 9.9% |
Where Cottage Grove’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Wisconsin), ordered by how far Cottage Grove is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 261 in 1930, 7,303 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2004 and 4 maps from 1890 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cottage Grove. Close and well known come first.
12 mi Stadium & arenaCamp Randall Stadium
11 mi Stadium & arenaKohl Center
16 mi State parkAztalan State Park
38 mi Park & preserveIce Age Trail
8 mi GardenOlbrich Botanical Gardens
12 mi Zoo & aquariumHenry Vilas ZooCamp Randall Stadium: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain · Kohl Center: Pbrown111 at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Aztalan State Park: Joshua Mayer - Flickr user wackybadger, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Ice Age Trail: MDuchek, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Olbrich Botanical Gardens: Chief-O at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Henry Vilas Zoo: Corey Coyle, CC BY 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Cottage Grove, 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 Cottage Grove.
Cottage Grove has less tooth loss than most of Wisconsin, has added half again as many jobs in ten years and has fewer 90° days than most of the country, though not than most of Wisconsin.
Its widest gap with Wisconsin is tooth loss: 5.9% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 9.9% statewide.
5.8% of Cottage Grove adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance. Two figures for adults in the town: 21% binge drink, 28% have high blood pressure.
| Cottage Grove | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 32% | 36% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 20% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 33% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Cottage Grove | WI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 5.9% | 9.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.8% | 12.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
FEMA expects less storm and flood damage in Cottage Grove than in 85% of U.S. communities. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Cottage Grove after 5 declared disasters, most recently in 2011.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Jobs based here grew from 343 in 2013 to 680.
Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in Cottage Grove rose by 337, to 680. Only 2% of working residents stay in Cottage Grove for work; the rest commute out. Among residents here, 3% live below the poverty line. The top destinations are Madison (47%), Cottage Grove (5%) and Monona (3%).
| Cottage Grove | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 3% | 6.4% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.5% | 8.4% | 8% |
| Work from home | 15% | 12% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The Madison Dane Rgnl Ap weather station, 10 miles away, records that about 9 days a year reach 90°: fewer than most of the country, but more than 77% of Wisconsin places with climate records. January nights average 11°: colder than most of the country, but milder than 82% of Wisconsin places with climate records; July afternoons average 82.6°.
About 52 inches of snow falls in a winter. Cottage Grove’s peak summer temperature stands at 83°F.
| Cottage Grove | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 11°F | 11°F | 22°F |
| July high | 83°F | 82°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Cottage Grove has lost 2.9% of its people since 2020, down to 3,677 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. Adults 18 to 34 are 14% of residents (22% statewide); people 65 and older are 23% of residents (19% statewide). Its median age stands at 45.6 years. The bachelor’s-degree share among adults 25 and older is 32%, against 33% across Wisconsin.
| Cottage Grove | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 23% | 20% | 18% |
| Median age | 45.6 years | 42.1 years | 40.5 years |
48% women, 52% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±5.5 points. Across Wisconsin, 49.9% of residents are women. Among residents 25 to 34, 76% are men (WI 51%).
| Cottage Grove | WI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 6.2% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.4% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.2% | 9.3% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 8% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 15.5% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 8.2% | 11.8% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 19% | 13.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 16.8% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.6% | 7.3% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3% | 6.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 29.2% | 29.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 17.9% | 19.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 17.7% | 11.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 24.5% | 22% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 7.7% | 11.4% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,700, single groups can be off by several points
In 1 park or preserve, walkers have 3.0 miles of trail. Cottage Grove’s trail density comes in at 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Cottage Grove | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.4% | 3.8% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Blooming Grove Drumlins Natural Resource Area- North Unit | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
4 within 15 miles of the center of Cottage Grove
About 3 of every 100 Cottage Grove residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Wisconsin.
Village in Wisconsin, United States
Cottage Grove is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. Its population was 7,303 at the 2020 census. A suburb of Madison, it shares a school district with Monona. The village is located partially within the survey township of Cottage Grove. The village was named from a settler's cottage in a grove near the village site.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Cottage Grove.
| Town | WI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cottage Grove | #275 | B− | D | — | B | A |
| Cottage Grove | #86 | A− | D | A | B | A |
| Madison | #289 | C+ | D | C | C | A |
| McFarland | #227 | B | C− | A− | D | A |
| Sun Prairie | — | — | C | — | B | A |
| Deerfield | — | — | C | — | B | A− |
| Pleasant Springs | #66 | A | C+ | — | B | A− |
| Medina | — | — | C− | — | C+ | B+ |
Sun Prairie, Deerfield and Medina have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Cottage Grove, Sun Prairie, Deerfield, Pleasant Springs and Medina report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Cottage Grove with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Cottage Grove grades B− overall, better than 46% of U.S. towns and #275 of 357 in Wisconsin. It grades A for health and B for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
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