Is Decatur a good place to live?
The best of Decatur’s subject grades is an A− for incomes; the weakest is a C for walkability. Among 363 Wisconsin towns, just 2 have a higher July high than Decatur. Homes are within reach, about $300K for a typical one, or 3.4 years of the Madison metro’s $89K median household income. The biggest park or preserve is Three Waters Reserve, at 144 acres. Decatur has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Decatur stand out
Where Decatur beats most towns.
99% of working residents leave Decatur for work
Where Decatur’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Decatur grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Wisconsin), ordered by how far Decatur is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Decatur: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Decatur, 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Decatur.
Most of Decatur’s workers commute out: the town has 0.2 jobs for each of them
Most working residents leave Decatur for work: only 1% work in town. Decatur’s average trip to work is 29 minutes, above both the Wisconsin town median (22 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). Since 2013, Decatur has added 37 jobs, to 180 in 2023.
| Decatur | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.3% | 8.3% | 8% |
| Median household income | $101,000 | $87,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 5% | 6.4% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant View Mennonite School PrivateLargest elementary schoolGrades 1–8 | Grades 1–8 | 18 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WI on state tests and graduation
Decatur faces a low natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 73% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
In Decatur, expect four seasons and pleasant summers
Decatur has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Decatur’s January low is 12°F, against 11°F in Wisconsin’s towns and 22°F across U.S. towns.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Fewer young adults than Wisconsin overall
Adults 18 to 34 are 16% of residents (22% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 44% of residents (38% statewide). The median age in Decatur is 46.7 years. Decatur has grown 4% since 2020, to 1,756 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Decatur | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 46.7 years | 42.1 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 26% | 32% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 20% | 21% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 20% | 20% | 18% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.9 points. Across Wisconsin, 49.9% of residents are women.
| Decatur | WI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.3% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.6% | 9.3% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 9.2% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.9% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 17.2% | 11.8% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14.7% | 13.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.9% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.1% | 7.3% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.2% | 6.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 31% | 29.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.7% | 19.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 16.1% | 11.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 16.5% | 22% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 9.5% | 11.4% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,800, single groups can be off by several points
On CDC estimates, Decatur is less healthy than 61% of U.S. towns
Decatur beats the Wisconsin average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 5. 42% of Decatur adults have obesity.
| Decatur | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 38% | 35% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 26% | 25% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 20% | 16% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 30% | 33% |
| What stands out | Decatur | WI |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 7.8% | 6.5% |
| More adults with heart disease | 7.6% | 6.6% |
| More adults who have had a stroke | 3.8% | 3.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Decatur has set aside 1.5% of its land for conservation
11 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves.
| Decatur | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.5% | 3.8% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Head Gates Park | 0.4 mi | 6 |
| 2. Three Waters Reserve | 0.2 mi | 144 |
| 3. Decatur Park | 0.2 mi | 18 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Decatur
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Decatur; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Decatur residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Wisconsin.
About Decatur
Town in Wisconsin, United States
Decatur is a town in Green County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,685 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 34 sq mi
- Elevation
- 879 ft
- Area code
- 608
Decatur’s neighbors
5 towns share a border with Decatur.
| Town | WI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decatur | — | — | B+ | — | B− | C+ |
| Brodhead | #244 | B− | B+ | B+ | B− | C |
| Sylvester | — | — | B+ | — | C+ | B− |
| Albany | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Spring Grove | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Spring Valley | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Decatur and Sylvester have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Decatur and Sylvester report no FBI crime data of their own. Albany, Spring Grove and Spring Valley aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Decatur with a neighbor →
Questions about Decatur
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Decatur, WI expensive?
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.