Ashland, Wisconsin.
Typical home $198,559 (-5.6% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$531 (+104%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $11,752 -6%
- $210,310$198,559 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $26,610 +15%
- $171,949$198,559 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Ashland$1,042
- Wisconsin$1,770
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 24 years.
Typical home values in Ashland, WI fell 5.6% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Ashland, Ashland County, Wisconsin
Ashland is a city of 7,908 people in Ashland County. Half its households earn more than $54,529 a year and half less, against $62,462 across Ashland County; 18% of its people live below the poverty line. 63% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 37% are rented. Unemployment in Ashland County was 3.6% in August 2026, and the county had 1.0% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Ashland is a small city on the shore of Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin. Residents are somewhat older than in many American towns, and most homes are lived in by their owners. Incomes run below the county's, and a fairly large part of the population lives below the poverty line. Winters are long and cold, with January the coldest month and plenty of snow, while July brings pleasantly warm days.
Work. Most residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by shops, then restaurants, hotels and entertainment, and professional and business services. Among the largest workplaces in Ashland are Memorial Medical Center, the Ashland School District and Northland College. Commutes are short, and the job market has softened slightly, with slightly fewer jobs across Ashland County than a year earlier.
Things to do. The Grand Opera House, a theatre in or beside town, is the best known local stop for an evening out. A short drive away, Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge is a protected area for walking and watching wildlife. Farther afield, a longer drive brings you to Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, a protected area on the lake, and to Copper Falls State Park.
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- 3,399households
- 30%of adults have a degree
- 18%below the poverty line
- 14 mintypical commute
- 10%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Ashland County had 7,864 jobs in 2025, 1.0% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 21° and lows near 4°; warmest in July, with highs near 78° and lows near 56°. About 33 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Ashland 3S weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Ashland
- Memorial Medical CenterCritical access hospital474FTE
- C. G. Bretting Manufacturing CompanyPaper and paperboard converting machinery manufacturing400
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters257
- Ashland School DistrictSchool district235FTE
- Northland CollegeUniversity or college155
- Northlakes Community Clinic-Ashland Downtown ClinicDentists' offices78
- Essentia HealthFamily physicians' offices71
- North Shore HealthcareSkilled nursing facilities63
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 16 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,280 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023), school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Ashland County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Ashland County.
Ashland home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Ashland$198,559
- Wisconsin$337,196
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 6 Ashland listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Ashland16.54%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Ashland49
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Ashland13
Zip codes with a Ashland address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Ashland — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.