Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 25,120, settled in 1957. Public schools that outperform most of Wisconsin.
Few places in the country grade higher. Mequon earns an A, 34th of 357 graded towns in Wisconsin. The median household earns $144K, its schools rank ahead of 95% of Wisconsin towns, and residents are healthier than 94% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. The exception is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $664K, 8.5 years of the Milwaukee metro’s $78K median household income. 70% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Mequon, against 32% in Wisconsin’s towns and 29% across U.S. towns. Mequon has 11 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them J.M. ALLMENDINGER (Steambarge) Shipwreck and Jonathan Clark House. Among 340 Wisconsin towns, just 2 have a higher rent at the middle of the market than Mequon.
Where Mequon beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Wisconsin), ordered by how far Mequon is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for jobs and income (better than 97% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 5%), so the A overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 3,068 in 1940, 25,142 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1839 and 5 maps from 1892 on.
11 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Mequon. Close and well known come first.
13 mi Stadium & arenaFiserv Forum
13 mi MuseumMilwaukee Art Museum350K visitors a year
13 mi Stadium & arenaUW–Milwaukee Panther Arena
13 mi MuseumNature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin
13 mi MuseumHarley-Davidson Museum300K visitors a year
13 mi Zoo & aquariumMilwaukee County ZooFiserv Forum: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Milwaukee Art Museum: Michael Hicks (Mulad), CC BY 2.0 · UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena: Shadowlink1014, Public domain · Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin: The original uploader was Sulfur at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0 · Harley-Davidson Museum: Dori, CC BY-SA 3.0 us · Milwaukee County Zoo: Awkwafaba, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Mequon, 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 Mequon.
Mequon has schools in the top 5% of Wisconsin and has less food insecurity than most of Wisconsin, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Wisconsin.
At 8.5 years of the Milwaukee metro’s $78K median household income, the typical home (about $664K) costs more against local pay than in 99% of Wisconsin towns; that ratio is one input to that grade. Its typical home is the priciest on its borders; Cedarburg is next at $567K.
A typical home in Mequon is worth about $664,000, up 5.8% in a year, 97% above the Wisconsin typical home. For households locally, the share who live in a home they own is 86%. In Mequon, 65% of sales closed above the list price.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
That grade ranks #9 of the 362 Wisconsin towns we grade for schools. It comes with a D for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $664K.
Three of its 9 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. Public schools: the Mequon-Thiensville School District.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wilson ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 558 | A |
| Homestead HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,204 | A |
| Donges Bay ElementaryTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 539 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WI on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with Wisconsin is food insecurity: 5.9% of its 19,891 adults worry about having enough food, against 12.1% statewide. Against the 3,220 U.S. towns with household incomes like Mequon’s, it is healthier than 80%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
Only 7 of the 357 Wisconsin towns we compare have a lower share of adults who worry about having enough food than Mequon. In Mequon, just over one in ten adults report frequent mental distress. Of 32 CDC measures, Mequon beats the Wisconsin average on 22 and trails it on 1.
| Mequon | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 30% | 33% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 32% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 15% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 8% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Mequon | WI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 5.9% | 12.1% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 5.1% | 9.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.5% | 8.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
There are 28 miles of trail across 23 parks and preserves. Mequon Nature Preserve, at 433 acres with 5.9 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Its concentration of trails is 0.6 miles per square mile.
| Mequon | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 8% | 3.8% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Mequon Nature Preserve | 5.9 mi | 433 |
| 2. Ozaukee County Virmond Park | 1.7 mi | 60 |
| 3. Mequon Rotary Park | 1.6 mi | 84 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Violent crime is rare: 8 reported in 2025, 0.3 per 1,000 residents.
Mequon’s property offense rate is 5.1 per 1,000 residents. The rate of reported violence for Mequon comes to 0.3 per 1,000 residents.
| Mequon | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.3 per 1,000 residents | 1.1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 5.1 per 1,000 residents | 6.5 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
128 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 16 properties have flooded more than once.
Households in Mequon have drawn federal disaster aid in 3 declared disasters, most recently in 2008. Storm and flood damage is expected to run lower than in three quarters of U.S. communities. The national flood insurance program has paid 128 claims locally since 1979. 58% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by cold waves at 23%.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
January nights average 13.6°: colder than most of the country, but milder than 97% of Wisconsin places with climate records; July afternoons average 81.5°.
For Mequon, the July high is 82°F. About 54 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Mequon | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 14°F | 11°F | 22°F |
| July high | 82°F | 82°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
25.8% of workers work from home, against 13.1% across Wisconsin.
The top destinations are Milwaukee (28%), Wauwatosa (5%) and Menomonee Falls (4%). Among residents in Mequon, 4.2% live below the poverty line. Only 13% of working residents stay in Mequon for work; the rest commute out. The average commute locally is 22 minutes.
| Mequon | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 26% | 12% | 11% |
| Median household income | $144,000 | $87,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 4.2% | 6.4% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 13% | 8.2% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
13 within 15 miles of the center of Mequon
About 8 of every 100 Mequon residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Wisconsin.
11 places in Mequon on the National Register of Historic Places.
8 notable people were born in Mequon.
City in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin
Mequon () is the most populous city in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 25,142 at the 2020 census. Located on Lake Michigan's western shore with significant commercial developments along Interstate 43, the community is a suburb in the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Despite being the third-largest city in Wisconsin by land area, approximately half of Mequon's land is undeveloped, and agriculture plays a significant role in the local economy. When the first white settlers arrived in the 1830s, the Mequon area was inhabited by the Menominee, Potawatomi, and Sauk people. In the 1840s, German immigrants settled in the community, building farms and hydropowered mills alo…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Mequon.
Milwaukee next door grades lower for schools (D− to Mequon’s A+) and higher for cost of living (C+ to D).
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Mequon grades A overall, better than 93% of U.S. towns and #34 of 357 in Wisconsin. It grades A for health, A− for safety and A+ 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.
8 notable people were born here, including Anders Bjork and Willy Porter.
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