Rib MountainWI
A town of 7,280.
Is Rib Mountain a good place to live?
Rib Mountain's standout: it has 17 miles of trail and 32% conserved land. Overall it grades B, 229th of 357 graded towns in Wisconsin. Residents are healthier than 80% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. 32% of the land in Rib Mountain is conserved, above both Wisconsin’s towns (3.8%) and U.S. towns (4.3%). Only 25 of Wisconsin’s 879 towns score lower on history. The biggest park or preserve is Marathon County Forest-Nine Mile Unit, at 3,250 acres.
What makes Rib Mountain stand out
Where Rib Mountain beats most towns.
17 miles of trails in Rib Mountain
31.5% of the town is conserved land, across 11 parks and preserves.
How Rib Mountain grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Wisconsin), ordered by how far Rib Mountain is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Rib Mountain: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Rib Mountain, 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Rib Mountain.
Rib Mountain keeps more of its land conserved than most of Wisconsin, trades workers with Wausau and other neighbors and is healthier than Mosinee and its other neighbors.
Nearly a third of Rib Mountain is conserved land
Its 5,148 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 99% of Wisconsin towns. Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #1 of 362 in Wisconsin.
17 miles of trail in 11 parks and preserves. Rib Mountain’s trail density is 0.7 miles per square mile, above both the Wisconsin town median (0.4) and the median of U.S. towns (0.4).
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rib Mountain State Park | 11 mi | 1,165 |
| 2. Doepke Recreation Area | 1.1 mi | 68 |
| 3. Liberty Park | 1 mi | 16 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Public schools in Rib Mountain fall behind 56% of Wisconsin districts
Its public schools are run by the Wausau School District. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Mountain ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 235 | A |
| Rib Mountain ElementaryTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 194 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WI on state tests and graduation
Fewer of Rib Mountain’s adults feel lonely than in the typical Wisconsin or U.S. town
Its A− for health tops all 5 graded neighbors; Mosinee (B+) comes closest.
26% of adults feel lonely in Rib Mountain. Rib Mountain beats the Wisconsin average on 11 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 13% of adults report frequent mental distress in Rib Mountain.
| Rib Mountain | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 30% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 32% | 36% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 20% | 16% |
| What stands out | Rib Mountain | WI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8% | 12.1% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 3.7% | 5.5% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.6% | 8.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Snowy winters and pleasant summers in Rib Mountain
Rib Mountain has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The July high in Rib Mountain is 80°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Fewer young adults than Wisconsin overall
Adults 18 to 34 are 14% of residents (22% statewide); people 65 and older are 25% of residents (19% statewide). Rib Mountain’s median age is 48.6 years. 43% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 33% across Wisconsin.
| Rib Mountain | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 48.6 years | 42.1 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 25% | 20% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 43% | 32% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 20% | 21% | 22% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
47% women, 53% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.2 points. Across Wisconsin, 49.9% of residents are women. Among residents 18 to 24, 66% are men (WI 51%).
| Rib Mountain | WI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.5% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.7% | 9.3% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 6.4% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 15.3% | 11.8% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14.1% | 13.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 15.7% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 9.3% | 7.3% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.5% | 6.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 21.5% | 29.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.3% | 19.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12.4% | 11.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 29.1% | 22% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14.2% | 11.4% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
About one in three of Rib Mountain’s working residents commute to Wausau
Rib Mountain has about as many jobs (3,191) as working residents, but only 222 people both live and work here.
Most working residents leave Rib Mountain for work: only 7% work in town. 3.6% of Rib Mountain residents live below the poverty line. The top destinations are Wausau (37%), Weston (7%) and Schofield (5%).
| Rib Mountain | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 19 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 3.6% | 6.4% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 16% | 12% | 11% |
| Median household income | $94,000 | $87,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Moderate risk in Rib Mountain, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 52% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Rib Mountain since 2010.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
A home in Rib Mountain sells for about $302K at the median
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Granite Peak Ski Area and 3 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Rib Mountain. Close and well known come first.
6 mi MuseumLeigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
5 mi TheatreGrand Theater36 mi GardenLyon ParkPhoto credits
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum: User:Royalbroil, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Grand Theater: Billertl, CC BY-SA 4.0
Everything we know about Rib Mountain
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Rib Mountain
About 4 of every 100 Rib Mountain residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Wisconsin.
About Rib Mountain
Village in Wisconsin, United States
Rib Mountain is a village located in Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 7,313 at the 2020 census. A suburb of Wausau, it is part of the Wausau Metropolitan Statistical Area. The census-designated place of Rib Mountain is located in the village.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 26 sq mi
- Elevation
- 1,227 ft
Rib Mountain’s neighbors
6 towns share a border with Rib Mountain.
| Town | WI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rib Mountain | #229 | B | C+ | — | C+ | A− |
| Wausau | #274 | B− | B | C+ | C+ | B− |
| Rothschild | #95 | A− | B+ | — | B+ | B |
| Schofield | — | — | A− | — | B+ | B |
| Stettin | #299 | C+ | C− | — | C+ | B |
| Marathon | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Mosinee | — | — | B+ | — | B+ | B+ |
Schofield and Mosinee have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Rib Mountain, Rothschild, Schofield, Stettin and Mosinee report no FBI crime data of their own. Marathon isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Rib Mountain with a neighbor →
Questions about Rib Mountain
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Rib Mountain, WI a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Rib Mountain grades B overall, better than 55% of U.S. towns and #229 of 357 in Wisconsin. It grades A− for health and C+ for schools.
Is Rib Mountain, WI expensive?
The typical home is worth about $256,000, 24% below the Wisconsin typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.