Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Shelby grades B− overall, 259th among Wisconsin's 357 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. The median household earns $110K and it has 18 miles of trail. Its lowest everyday mark is in schools: its schools rank behind 72% of the state's. A typical home there costs about $301K, 4.1 years of the La Crosse metro’s $73K median household income. 12% of the land in Shelby is conserved, against 3.8% in Wisconsin’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. Only 82 of Wisconsin’s 879 towns score lower on hazard risk. Shelby's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 95% of U.S. towns.
Where Shelby beats most towns.
Where Shelby’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 Shelby is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 4,435 in 1990, 4,715 in 2010. The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 2004 and 5 maps from 1927 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Shelby, 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 Shelby.
Shelby owes part of its health edge to its incomes and has cooler summers than most of the country, though not than most of Wisconsin; it also carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Wisconsin (mostly inland flooding).
19 miles of trail in 11 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Goose Island County Park, 383 acres with 3.1 miles of trail. At 0.7 miles per square mile, Shelby’s trail density is where Wisconsin’s towns sit at 0.4 and U.S. towns at 0.4.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. ORA Community Trail Farm | 8.8 mi | 275 |
| 2. Goose Island County Park | 3.1 mi | 383 |
| 3. Town of Shelby | 2.5 mi | 86 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Jobs based here fell from 912 in 2013 to 712.
Most working residents leave Shelby for work: only 2% work in town. Since 2013, Shelby has lost 200 jobs, to 712 in 2023. Shelby’s average trip to work is 20 minutes.
| Shelby | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $110,000 | $87,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.6% | 8.4% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 6.4% | 6.3% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 96% of Wisconsin towns, with expected losses of about $1,224 per resident a year; that rating is what its C for hazard risk is built on.
The FEMA risk score in Shelby is 68 of 100. Since 1978, 17 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Shelby.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
July afternoons average 82.3°: cooler than most of the country, but hotter than 85% of Wisconsin places with climate records; January nights average 8.6°.
Shelby has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. About 43 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Shelby | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 9°F | 11°F | 22°F |
| July high | 82°F | 82°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 7,084 U.S. towns with household incomes like Shelby’s, it is less healthy than 74%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
Shelby beats the Wisconsin average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 29% of adults have high blood pressure in Shelby. Only 6 of the 357 Wisconsin towns we compare have a higher share of adults who report frequent mental distress than Shelby.
| Shelby | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 33% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 24% | 23% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 15% | 17% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 20% | 16% |
| What stands out | Shelby | WI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with diabetes | 9.7% | 11.4% |
| Fewer adults with high blood pressure | 29.3% | 33.3% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 8.7% | 6.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
3 within 15 miles of the center of Shelby
About 5 of every 100 Shelby residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Wisconsin.
2 places in Shelby on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in Wisconsin, United States
Shelby is a town in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the La Crosse, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,804 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated community of Shelby is located in the town.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Shelby.
| Town | WI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shelby | #259 | B− | B− | — | C | B |
| La Crosse | #342 | C− | C | D | C | B− |
| Bergen | — | — | D | — | C | B− |
| Greenfield | — | — | B− | — | C+ | B |
| Hamburg | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Medary | — | — | C | — | C | B |
Bergen, Greenfield and Medary have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Shelby, Bergen, Greenfield and Medary report no FBI crime data of their own. Hamburg isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Shelby with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Shelby grades B− overall, better than 50% of U.S. towns and #259 of 357 in Wisconsin. It grades B for health and C for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
