Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Mauston grades C overall, ranked 316th of 357 in Wisconsin, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. It is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns. On the other side, residents are less healthy than 89% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. 30% of working residents work locally in Mauston, against 8.2% in Wisconsin’s towns and 8% across U.S. towns. Mauston has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Benjamin Boorman House and Juneau County Courthouse.
Where Mauston beats most towns.
Benjamin Boorman HouseWhere Mauston’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 Mauston is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 952 in 1870, 4,347 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1877 and 3 maps from 1921 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Mauston, 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 Mauston.
Mauston draws workers from New Lisbon and beyond and is safe by national standards but not by Wisconsin’s; it also carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Wisconsin (mostly inland flooding).
3,584 jobs are based in Mauston, 2.1 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
About one in 3 of Mauston’s working residents works in town. 19% of Mauston residents live below the poverty line. Since 2013, Mauston has added 250 jobs, to 3,584 in 2023.
| Mauston | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 19% | 6.3% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 6.1% | 12% | 11% |
| Median household income | $64,000 | $88,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Mauston School District. Two of its 8 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Mauston High, with 365 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Side ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–2 | Grades PK–2 | 256 | – |
| Mauston HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 365 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WI on state tests and graduation
21% of adults smoke cigarettes in Mauston. Among 357 Wisconsin towns, just 5 have a higher share of adults who get no exercise outside work than Mauston. 19% of adults binge drink in Mauston.
| Mauston | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 14% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 26% | 25% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 13% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 17% | 19% |
| What stands out | Mauston | WI |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 16.3% | 9.9% |
| More smokers | 20.5% | 13.6% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.7% | 6.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The typical Mauston home is worth about $261,000, up 6.3% in a year, 23% below the Wisconsin typical home. The median rent in Mauston is $879 a month.
| Mauston | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 55% | 74% | 73% |
| Median rent | $879 a month | $1,080 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
July afternoons average 82.1°: cooler than most of the country, but hotter than 80% of Wisconsin places with climate records; January nights average 7.7°.
Mauston has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Mauston’s January low is 8°F. About 47 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Mauston | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 8°F | 11°F | 22°F |
| July high | 82°F | 82°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 92% of Wisconsin towns, with expected losses of about $814 per resident a year; that rating is what its C+ for hazard risk is built on.
Since 2018, 5 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Mauston.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
0.5 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Juneau County Fairgrounds, at 34 acres.
| Mauston | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.3% | 3.8% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Juneau County Fairgrounds | 0.4 mi | 34 |
| 2. Veteran's Memorial Park | 0.1 mi | 21 |
| 3. Mile Bluff/ Kwanis Park | — | 18 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 18.9 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 67% of Wisconsin’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 88 to 31 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Mauston. Close and well known come first.
18 mi Canyon & gorgeDells of the Wisconsin River
31 mi Park & preserveIce Age Trail20 mi Theme parkNoah's Ark Water Park
32 mi State parkDevil's Lake State Park
19 mi Theme parkMt. Olympus Water & Theme Park26 mi MuseumMid-Continent Railway MuseumDells of the Wisconsin River: atramos, CC BY 2.0 · Ice Age Trail: MDuchek, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Devil's Lake State Park: CrispAir at en.wikipedia, CC BY 3.0 · Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park: User Royalbroil on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5
None within 15 miles of Mauston; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Mauston residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Wisconsin.
2 places in Mauston on the National Register of Historic Places.
6 notable people were born in Mauston.
City in Wisconsin, United States
Mauston is a city in and the county seat of Juneau County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 4,347 as of the 2020 census. It is approximately 70 miles northwest from the state capital, Madison.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Mauston.
Lemonweir has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Lemonweir reports no FBI crime data of its own. Lindina isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Mauston with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Mauston grades C overall, better than 33% of U.S. towns and #316 of 357 in Wisconsin. It grades D for health, B− for safety and B− for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
That is 3.9 years of the area's median household income ($67,270 across the county).
6 notable people were born here, including Orland Steen Loomis and Kelly Bires.
