Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 4,581, settled in 1839. Public schools that outperform most of Wisconsin.
Trash day: look up yoursPrescott is one of the best-graded places in America: an A+, 25th among Wisconsin's 357 graded towns. Its public schools beat 87% of Wisconsin towns on state tests and graduation, it is healthier than 84% of U.S. towns, and crime is low: it reports less per resident than 83% of U.S. towns. Its lowest mark, a C+, is in cost of living. Only 71 of Wisconsin’s 879 towns score higher on walkability. Prescott has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Daniel Smith House.
Where Prescott beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Malone Elementary | PK–5 | 457 |
| St. Joseph Parish School | PK–6 | 151 |
| Prescott Middle | 6–8 | 254 |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Wisconsin), ordered by how far Prescott is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,031 in 1860, a low of 755 in 1930, 4,333 in 2020. The archive holds 17 old photos and papers going back to 1855 and 2 maps from 1985 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Prescott, 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 Prescott.
Prescott sends many workers across the state line to Hastings, has seen reported crime fall by about half and has cooler summers than most of the country, though not than most of Wisconsin.
Its public schools are run by the Prescott School District. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Prescott High, with 394 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malone ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 457 | A |
| Prescott HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 394 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WI on state tests and graduation
21% of Prescott adults binge drink, above both Wisconsin’s towns (20%) and U.S. towns (16%). 14% of Prescott adults say their health is fair or poor. Prescott beats the Wisconsin average on 10 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0.
| Prescott | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 20% | 16% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 17% | 19% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 76% | 78% | 79% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Prescott | WI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.5% | 12.1% |
| Fewer adults in fair or poor health | 13.7% | 17.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Reported crimes fell from 36 to 6 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. Violent crime is rare: 4 reported in 2024, 0.9 per 1,000 residents.
Prescott’s property crime rate is 4.2 per 1,000 residents, against 8.1 in Wisconsin’s towns and 11.5 across U.S. towns.
| Prescott | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 4.2 per 1,000 residents | 8.1 | 11.5 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 0.9 per 1,000 residents | 1.1 | 1.7 |
FBI crime data, 2024 · crimes reported to police
The typical Prescott home is worth about $411,000, up 5.1% in a year, 22% above the Wisconsin typical home. 63% of households own their home in Prescott.
| Prescott | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 63% | 74% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,189 a month | $1,076 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
July afternoons average 82.3°: cooler than most of the country, but hotter than 85% of Wisconsin places with climate records; January nights average 6.8°.
Prescott has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The January low in Prescott is 7°F. About 41 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Prescott | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 7°F | 11°F | 22°F |
| July high | 82°F | 82°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
52% of working residents cross a state line to work, Hastings among the top destinations. Prescott has about as many jobs (1,564) as working residents, but only 286 people both live and work here.
About one in 5 of Prescott’s working residents works in town. Jobs based in Prescott grew to 1,564 in 2023, 345 more than in 2013. The top destinations are Hastings (9%), River Falls (9%) and Hudson (6%).
| Prescott | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 20% | 8.2% | 8% |
| Work from home | 18% | 12% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 6.3% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $74,000 | $88,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 61% of U.S. communities. Since 1993, 24 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Prescott.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Wisconsin average. Prescott has grown 5.7% since 2020, to 4,581 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 34% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 33% across Wisconsin.
| Prescott | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 34% | 32% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 20% | 21% | 22% |
54% women, 46% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.2 points. Across Wisconsin, 49.9% of residents are women.
| Prescott | WI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.8% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.5% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 3.7% | 9.3% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 17.9% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.3% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.5% | 11.8% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.7% | 13.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 14.1% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.6% | 7.3% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.2% | 6.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 31.2% | 29.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 17% | 19.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12.3% | 11.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23.1% | 22% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.2% | 11.4% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 4,600, single groups can be off by several points
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Freedom Park | — | 5 |
| 2. Mercord Mill Park | — | 4 |
| 3. Prescott Beach | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Prescott. Close and well known come first.
Big draw28 mi Stadium & arenaU.S. Bank Stadium
20 mi Stadium & arenaGrand Casino Arena
26 mi Stadium & arenaHuntington Bank Stadium
29 mi Stadium & arenaTarget Field
23 mi Theme parkNickelodeon Universe
22 mi LandmarkFort SnellingU.S. Bank Stadium: Darb02, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Grand Casino Arena: AlexiusHoratius, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Huntington Bank Stadium: Lectrician2, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Target Field: Lectrician2, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nickelodeon Universe: Tyler Vigen, CC BY 4.0 · Fort Snelling: en:User:The Statue With The Dictionary, CC BY-SA 3.0
3 within 15 miles of the center of Prescott
About 3 of every 100 Prescott residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Wisconsin.
2 places in Prescott on the National Register of Historic Places.
4 notable people were born in Prescott.
City in Wisconsin, United States
Prescott is a city in Pierce County, Wisconsin, United States, at the confluence of the St. Croix River and Mississippi River. Prescott is at the edge of the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. The population was 4,333 at the 2020 census, making it the county's second-largest city after River Falls and the largest entirely within Pierce County. Prescott was home to the mother house of the Franciscan Servants of Jesus. The town was first settled by (and named for) Philander Prescott, who opened a trading post there in 1839.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Prescott.
Clifton has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Oak Grove and Clifton report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Prescott with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Prescott grades A+ overall, better than 95% of U.S. towns and #25 of 357 in Wisconsin. It grades A− for health, A− for safety and A for schools.
That is 4.1 years of the area's median household income ($99,833 across the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-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+.
4 notable people were born here, including Horace Sweeney Oakley and John Wallace.
