Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.
Typical home $309,252 (+4.2% in a year), asking rent $1,339 . Watertown-Fort Atkinson, WI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$911 (+128%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $12,397 +4%
- $296,855$309,252 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $74,907 +32%
- $234,345$309,252 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.
- Fort Atkinson$1,623
- Wisconsin$1,770
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Fort Atkinson, WI rose 4.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Fort Atkinson, Jefferson County, Wisconsin
Fort Atkinson is a city of 12,579 people in Jefferson County. Half its households earn more than $79,302 a year and half less, against $83,750 across Jefferson County; 7% of its people live below the poverty line. 68% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 32% are rented. Unemployment in Jefferson County was 2.8% in August 2026, and the county had 0.6% 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Fort Atkinson is a small city in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, where residents are somewhat older than in many American towns. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and household incomes run a little below the county's. Winters are cold and snowy, with January the coldest month, and summers are warm in July. Rain and melted snow fall steadily across the year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, restaurants and hotels, and shops also employing a good share. The largest workplaces in town include Fort Atkinson Memorial Hospital, Jones Dairy Farm and Krueger International. Commutes are fairly short, and unemployment across Jefferson County has held steady over the past year.
Things to do. In or beside town, Fort Koshkonong marks the old fort and the Panther Intaglio Effigy Mound is an archaeological site, while the Fireside Dinner Theatre offers an evening out. A short drive away, Aztalan State Park is an archaeological site and Lake Koshkonong is a large reservoir for time on the water.
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- 5,408households
- 26%of adults have a degree
- 7%below the poverty line
- 20 mintypical commute
- 10%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Jefferson County had 33,413 jobs in 2025, 0.6% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 28° and lows near 11°; warmest in July, with highs near 82° and lows near 62°. About 36 inches of snow and 36 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Fort Atkinson weather station, 2 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Fort Atkinson
- Fort Atkinson Memorial HospitalGeneral hospital591FTE
- Jones Dairy FarmProcessed meats manufacturing483
- Krueger InternationalOffice furniture, modular system, installation442
- OSIProcessed meats manufacturing418
- Fort Atkinson School DistrictSchool district356FTE
- The FiresideDinner theaters294
- Ball Beverage Pkg 171 Fort Atkinson332431 aluminum cans, light gauge metal, manufacturing160
- Visiting AngelsHome care of elderly, non-medical136
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 23 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,981 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and school districts 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
- HailRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Jefferson County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively 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 Jefferson County and the Watertown-Fort Atkinson, WI metro.
Fort Atkinson home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Fort Atkinson$309,252
- 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 4 Fort Atkinson listings — the market is cooling.
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.
- Fort Atkinson22.68%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Fort Atkinson44
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Fort Atkinson17
Zip codes with a Fort Atkinson address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Fort Atkinson — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.