Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,935, settled in 1892. More miles of trail than almost any town in Wisconsin.
Trash day: TuesdayWilliams Bay's standout: it has 10 miles of trail. Overall it grades B+, 187th of 357 graded towns in Wisconsin. Natural-hazard risk is low. Williams Bay’s density of trails is 3.4 miles per square mile, against 0.4 in Wisconsin’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns. Only 4 of the 182 Wisconsin towns we compare have a lower level of property crime than Williams Bay. The biggest place to walk is Kishwauketoe Nature Conservancy, 233 acres with 5.6 miles of trail.
Where Williams Bay beats most towns.
13% of the town is conserved land, across 6 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Wisconsin), ordered by how far Williams Bay is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 436 in 1920, 2,953 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1980 and 4 maps from 1893 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Williams Bay, 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 Williams Bay.
Williams Bay is one of Wisconsin’s best towns for the outdoors and has colder winter nights than most of the country, though not than most of Wisconsin; it also has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Wisconsin.
Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #5 of 362 in Wisconsin.
More trails than any other town in Wisconsin. Trails total 9.5 miles in 6 parks and preserves. Parks and preserves in Williams Bay: 6, covering 259 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Kishwauketoe Nature Conservancy | 5.6 mi | 233 |
| 2. Edgewater Park | 0.4 mi | 8 |
| 3. Lions Park | — | 11 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The public schools here belong to the Williams Bay School District. Two of its 3 schools are shown below, with the reason for each.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Williams Bay ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 282 | B |
| Williams Bay HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 170 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WI on state tests and graduation
At 6.8 years of the Whitewater area’s $81K median household income, the typical home (about $550K) costs more against local pay than in 93% of Wisconsin towns; that ratio is one input to its C+ for cost of living.
Values rose 4.1% in the 12 months to September 2026. A home in Williams Bay typically sold within 56 days of listing. Bidding over the asking price: 40% of homes sold in the town.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
37% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by tornadoes at 21%. Williams Bay’s risk rating from FEMA stands at 7 of 100, below both Wisconsin’s towns (23 of 100) and U.S. towns (44 of 100). Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 93% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The top destinations are Lake Geneva (7%), Delavan (6%) and Madison (5%). For most workers, Williams Bay is a place to come home to: only 9% work in town. Jobs based in Williams Bay grew to 849 in 2023, 142 more than in 2013. Also worth knowing: in Williams Bay, the mean commuting time is 27 minutes.
| Williams Bay | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 18% | 12% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 8.7% | 6.3% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its widest gap with Wisconsin is tooth loss: 6.2% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 9.9% statewide.
28% of adults feel lonely in Williams Bay. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Williams Bay is ahead of Wisconsin on 10 and behind on 1.
| Williams Bay | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 17% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 30% | 33% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 32% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 24% | 23% |
| What stands out | Williams Bay | WI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.2% | 9.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.4% | 12.1% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.8% | 8.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
January nights average 12.8°: colder than most of the country, but milder than 94% of Wisconsin places with climate records; July afternoons average 82.7°.
About 32 inches of snow falls in a winter. Williams Bay’s January low comes in at 13°F.
| Williams Bay | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 13°F | 11°F | 22°F |
| July high | 83°F | 82°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts. Williams Bay's reported crime rate is well below Wisconsin's. The violent offense rate in the town is 0.3 per 1,000 residents. Violent crime is rare: 1 reported in 2025.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Williams Bay. Close and well known come first.
Big draw34 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great America3.0M visitors a year
24 mi MuseumIllinois Railway Museum
12 mi TheatreAlpine Valley Music Theatre
37 mi State parkAztalan State Park
35 mi Stadium & arenaBMO Center26 mi MuseumVolo Auto MuseumSix Flags Great America: Feather Better, CC BY 4.0 · Illinois Railway Museum: The original uploader was Slambo at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0 · Alpine Valley Music Theatre: chad davis, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Aztalan State Park: Joshua Mayer - Flickr user wackybadger, CC BY-SA 2.0 · BMO Center: SimLibrarian, CC0
None within 15 miles of Williams Bay; the nearest are
About 5 of every 100 Williams Bay residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Wisconsin.
2,564 counted in 2010 and 2,953 in 2020; an estimated 2,935 in 2025.
Growth has leveled off: within 1% of 2020, after 15.2% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Village in Wisconsin, United States
Williams Bay is a village in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. It is one of three municipalities on Geneva Lake. The population was 2,953 at the 2020 census. On June 22, 2024 the town was hit by an EF-1 tornado, there were no injuries or fatalities, but the storm caused some areas of considerable damage.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Williams Bay.
| Town | WI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Williams Bay | #187 | B+ | C+ | — | C+ | B+ |
| Linn | #163 | B+ | C− | A | B− | B |
| Walworth | — | — | C+ | — | C | B− |
| Geneva | #85 | A− | C− | A+ | B+ | B+ |
| Delavan | #213 | B | B− | A− | C | B |
Walworth has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Williams Bay and Walworth report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Williams Bay with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Williams Bay grades B+ overall, better than 66% of U.S. towns and #187 of 357 in Wisconsin. It grades B+ for health and C+ for schools, and has the most trail per square mile in the state.
That is 6.8 years of the area's median household income ($80,520 across the Whitewater-Elkhorn, WI 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+.
2 notable people were born here, including Anne Gray McCready and Donna D. Elbert.
