Athens, Wisconsin.
Typical home $250,333 (+10.3% in a year). Wausau-Weston, WI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$719 (+121%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $23,431 +10%
- $226,902$250,333 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $60,361 +32%
- $189,972$250,333 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.
- Athens$1,314
- Wisconsin$1,770
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 13 years.
Typical home values in Athens, WI rose 10.3% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Athens, Marathon County, Wisconsin
Athens is a village of 1,059 people in Marathon County. Half its households earn more than $52,750 a year and half less, against $77,884 across Marathon County; 15% of its people live below the poverty line. 65% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 35% are rented. Unemployment in Marathon County was 3.0% in August 2026, and the county had 1.2% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Athens is a small village in Marathon County, home to a small community at the last census. Most homes are lived in by their owners, though incomes run well below the county's as a whole and more households live below the poverty line than is typical. Winters are long and cold, with heavy snow, and summers are warm.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, transport and warehouses, and restaurants and hotels also employing many. Among the larger workplaces in Athens are the Athens School District, the contractor SD Ellenbecker, and the assisted living home Athenian Living. Few adults hold a four-year degree, and the typical commute is a fairly long one, with only a small number working from home.
Things to do. For time outdoors, Rib Mountain State Park and Council Grounds State Park are protected areas a longer drive away, and Granite Peak Ski Area, also a longer drive, suits the snowy winters. The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum is a museum that is likewise a longer drive from the village.
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- 447households
- 12%of adults have a degree
- 15%below the poverty line
- 26 mintypical commute
- 7%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Marathon County had 69,778 jobs in 2025, 1.2% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 21° and lows near 2°; warmest in July, with highs near 79° and lows near 57°. About 57 inches of snow and 34 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Medford weather station, 14 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Athens
- Athens School DistrictSchool district80FTE
- SD EllenbeckerCommercial building construction general contractors49
- Janke General ContractorsBridge construction31
- Athenian LivingAssisted living24
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 104 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (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 high
- LightningRelatively high
- HailRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively 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 Marathon County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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 Marathon County and the Wausau-Weston, WI metro.
Athens home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Athens$250,333
- 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.
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
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Athens13
Zip codes with a Athens address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Athens — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.