Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Hartford's standout: natural-hazard risk is low. Overall it grades B, 218th of 357 graded towns in Wisconsin. It has 16 miles of trail. Hartford’s trail density is 1.8 miles per square mile, above both Wisconsin’s towns (0.4) and U.S. towns (0.4). Hartford has 8 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Otto P. Kissel House and Kissel's Addition Historic District. Hartford's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 82% of U.S. towns.
Where Hartford beats most towns.
Census counts: 1,343 in 1880, a low of 1,296 in 1890, 15,626 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1904 and 3 maps from 1904 on.
8 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Wisconsin), ordered by how far Hartford is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Hartford, 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 Hartford.
Hartford trades workers with Milwaukee and other neighbors, is safe by national standards but not by Wisconsin’s and has colder winter nights than most of the country, though not than most of Wisconsin.
On this, Hartford is above both the Wisconsin town median (3.8%) and the median of U.S. towns (4.3%). The biggest park or preserve is Wilson Wildlife Wetlands, at 135 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Kettle Moraine State Forest- Pike Lake Unit | 4.5 mi | 263 |
| 2. Paul Quick Conservancy | 1.5 mi | 119 |
| 3. Rubicon River Trail Park | 0.6 mi | 76 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Hartford UHS School District. Two of its 6 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Hartford High, with 1,324 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 460 | B |
| Hartford HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,324 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WI on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 92% of U.S. communities. Since 2010, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Hartford.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Hartford beats the Wisconsin average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 21% of adults binge drink in Hartford.
| Hartford | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 20% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 33% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 11% | 12% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 30% | 33% |
| What stands out | Hartford | WI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 7.6% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
January nights average 10.6°: colder than most of the country, but milder than 79% of Wisconsin places with climate records; July afternoons average 81.2°.
Hartford has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Hartford’s July high is 81°F. About 36 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Hartford | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 81°F | 82°F | 85°F |
| January low | 11°F | 11°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Hartford has about as many jobs (7,589) as working residents, but only 1,572 people both live and work here.
Most working residents leave Hartford for work: only 19% work in town. The average trip to work in Hartford is 26 minutes. The top destinations are Milwaukee (10%), Menomonee Falls (5%) and West Bend (4%).
| Hartford | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 19% | 8.2% | 8% |
| Work from home | 15% | 12% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 9% | 6.3% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The typical Hartford home is worth about $381,000, up 4.7% in a year, 13% above the Wisconsin typical home. 66% of Hartford households own their home.
| Hartford | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 66% | 74% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,110 a month | $1,076 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
At 14.9 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 54% of Wisconsin’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 156 to 122 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Wisconsin average. Hartford has grown 2.3% since 2020, to 16,005 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 29% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 33% across Wisconsin.
| Hartford | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 39.1 years | 42.1 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 17% | 20% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 23% | 21% | 22% |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.3 points. Across Wisconsin, 49.9% of residents are women.
| Hartford | WI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.3% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12.2% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.7% | 9.3% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.6% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.2% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.8% | 11.8% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.3% | 13.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.9% | 7.3% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.6% | 6.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 31.7% | 29.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 20.7% | 19.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 13.2% | 11.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.2% | 22% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 7.6% | 11.4% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
None within 15 miles of Hartford; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Hartford residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Wisconsin.
7.2% of the town is conserved land, across 22 parks and preserves.
8 places in Hartford on the National Register of Historic Places.
11 notable people were born in Hartford.
City in Washington County, Wisconsin
Hartford is a city in Washington and Dodge counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,000. All of this population resided in Washington County; the portion of the city in Dodge County consists of only industrial and commercial parcels. Located approximately 38 miles (61 km) northwest of downtown Milwaukee and 22 miles (35 km) from city limits, Hartford is located on the outer edge of the Milwaukee metropolitan area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Hartford.
| Town | WI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hartford | #218 | B | C | B | B | B+ |
| Hartford | #14 | A+ | B+ | — | A | B+ |
| Rubicon | — | — | C | — | B+ | B− |
| Slinger | #48 | A | C+ | B+ | A | A− |
Rubicon has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Hartford and Rubicon report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Hartford with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Hartford grades B overall, better than 60% of U.S. towns and #218 of 357 in Wisconsin. It grades B+ for health, B for safety and B for schools.
That is 4.9 years of the area's median household income ($78,218 across the Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
11 notable people were born here, including Quinn Meinerz and Samuel S. Barney.
