Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 5,210.
Delavan grades B overall, 213th among Wisconsin's 357 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. It reports less crime per resident than 84% of U.S. towns and natural-hazard risk is low. On the other side, its schools rank behind 75% of the state's. 30% of residents are 65 or older in Delavan, above both Wisconsin’s towns (20%) and U.S. towns (18%). On civic life, just 16 of Wisconsin’s 869 towns do worse. Delavan has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Fred B. Jones Estate and A.P. Johnson House.
Where Delavan beats most towns.
Fred B. Jones EstateWhere Delavan’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 Delavan is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,549 in 1860, 8,505 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1840 and 4 maps from 1893 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Who provides power, water and the rest in Delavan, 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 Delavan.
Delavan is a second-home town and gets more snow than most of the country, though not than most of Wisconsin; it also has little public open land.
Violent crime is rare: 2 reported in 2025, 0.4 per 1,000 residents.
Delavan’s rate of thefts and burglaries is 3.7 per 1,000 residents. Its level of violent crime is 0.4 per 1,000 residents.
| Delavan | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.7 per 1,000 residents | 6.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.4 per 1,000 residents | 1.1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Households in Delavan have drawn federal disaster aid in 3 declared disasters, most recently in 2011. FEMA expects less storm and flood damage locally than in 88% of U.S. communities. Of the losses FEMA expects here, 44% come from inland flooding and 19% from tornadoes.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Delavan has 598 jobs for its 2,598 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. Jobs based here grew from 427 in 2013 to 598.
The top destinations are Delavan (16%), Elkhorn (8%) and Lake Geneva (5%). Commuting out is the norm locally: 2% of working residents work locally. Jobs in Delavan grew by 171 from 2013 to 2023, reaching 598. The average commute in the town is 27 minutes.
| Delavan | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 2% | 8.4% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 14% | 12% | 11% |
| Median household income | $76,000 | $88,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
43.9% of homes are seasonal or vacation homes, against 6.2% statewide, which helps explain the older median age.
For Delavan, the age of the median resident is 50.7 years. Here, 29% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree, against 33% in Wisconsin as a whole.
| Delavan | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 50.7 years | 42.1 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 29% | 32% | 29% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.1 points. Across Wisconsin, 49.9% of residents are women. Among residents 75 and older, 58% are men (WI 43%).
| Delavan | WI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.4% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 7.1% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.5% | 9.3% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 8% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 8.9% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12% | 11.8% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.9% | 13.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.7% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 16.6% | 7.3% | 7% |
| No diploma | 9.6% | 6.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 31.4% | 29.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.3% | 19.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.4% | 11.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.5% | 22% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 7.9% | 11.4% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The Lake Geneva Wwtp weather station, 8 miles away, records that 40 inches of snow fall in a normal winter: more than most of the country, but less than 78% of Wisconsin places with climate records. January nights average 12.6°: colder than most of the country, but milder than 93% of Wisconsin places with climate records; July afternoons average 82.7°.
The midsummer high for Delavan comes to 83°F. The January low for Delavan comes to 13°F.
| Delavan | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 13°F | 11°F | 22°F |
| July high | 83°F | 82°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
For adults in Delavan, the share who binge drink is 19%. Among adults locally, 40% have obesity.
| Delavan | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 38% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 24% | 23% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 20% | 16% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 15% | 17% |
| What stands out | Delavan | WI |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 9.6% | 8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Just 38 of its 17,270 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Delavan itself; its outdoors grade is D.
Count the trails in 2 parks and preserves and they come to 1.2 miles.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lions Park | — | 1 |
| 2. Hidden Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Delavan. Close and well known come first.
Big draw37 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great America3.0M visitors a year
12 mi TheatreAlpine Valley Music Theatre
26 mi MuseumIllinois Railway Museum
35 mi State parkAztalan State Park
35 mi Stadium & arenaBMO Center
40 mi Zoo & aquariumMilwaukee County ZooSix Flags Great America: Feather Better, CC BY 4.0 · Alpine Valley Music Theatre: chad davis, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Illinois Railway Museum: The original uploader was Slambo at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0 · Aztalan State Park: Joshua Mayer - Flickr user wackybadger, CC BY-SA 2.0 · BMO Center: SimLibrarian, CC0 · Milwaukee County Zoo: Awkwafaba, CC BY-SA 3.0
None within 15 miles of Delavan; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Delavan residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Wisconsin.
2 places in Delavan on the National Register of Historic Places.
9 notable people were born in Delavan.
City in Wisconsin, United States
Delavan is a city in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 8,505 at the 2020 census. It is located 45 miles (72 km) southwest of Milwaukee. The city is located partially within the Town of Delavan, but the two entities are politically independent. Delavan is home to Delavan Lake which brings in a large number of tourists each year, and is also close to Lake Geneva, another popular tourist destination.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Delavan.
All 3 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its B; Williams Bay (B+) is closest.
| Town | WI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delavan | #213 | B | B− | A− | C | B |
| Delavan | #290 | C+ | B− | B− | C | B− |
| Elkhorn | #116 | A− | C+ | A− | B | B+ |
| Delavan Lake | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Williams Bay | #187 | B+ | C+ | — | C+ | B+ |
| Walworth | — | — | C+ | — | C | B− |
| Darien | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Sugar Creek | #138 | A− | B− | — | B− | B+ |
Walworth has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Williams Bay, Walworth and Sugar Creek report no FBI crime data of their own. Delavan Lake and Darien aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Delavan with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Delavan grades B overall, better than 61% of U.S. towns and #213 of 357 in Wisconsin. It grades B for health, A− for safety and C for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
Delavan has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places. 9 notable people were born here, including Ned Hollister and Kenneth Goff.
