Mercer, Wisconsin.
Typical home $324,546 (+9.5% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$985 (+137%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $28,230 +10%
- $296,316$324,546 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $96,960 +43%
- $227,585$324,546 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.
- Mercer$1,703
- Wisconsin$1,770
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 10 years.
Typical home values in Mercer, WI rose 9.5% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Mercer, Iron County, Wisconsin
Mercer, in Iron County, had 551 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $37,917 a year and half less, against $60,625 across Iron County; 18% of its people live below the poverty line. 72% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 28% are rented. Unemployment in Iron County was 5.1% in August 2026, and the county had 4.2% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Iron County 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Mercer is a very small community in Iron County, and its residents are older than in most towns, with many in or past retirement age. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and typical home values sit well above what the local incomes might suggest. Household incomes are below the county's, and a good number of residents live below the poverty line. Winters are long, cold and snowy, with January the coldest month, while July brings warm days that are never extreme.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops and the building trades also employing local people. Across Iron County, the largest workplaces include Action Floor Systems, the Hurley School District and the Mercer School District. Commutes are fairly short, almost no one works from home, and few adults hold a four-year degree. Unemployment in the county is a little higher than a year ago, and there are fewer jobs across the county than there were the year before.
Things to do. Water is the main draw around Mercer. The Manitowish River and Turtle River are rivers a short drive away, and Negro Lakes is a lake that is also close. Trout Lake is a longer drive away for those who want a day out.
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- 241households
- 17%of adults have a degree
- 18%below the poverty line
- 19 mintypical commute
- 1%work from home
What people in Iron County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Iron County had 1,615 jobs in 2025, 4.2% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 20° and lows near 0°; warmest in July, with highs near 78° and lows near 54°. About 75 inches of snow and 32 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Rest Lake weather station, 8 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Iron County
- Action Floor SystemsFloor baseboards, wood, manufacturing88
- Hurley School DistrictSchool district57FTE
- Angelo LuppinoCommercial building construction45
- Mercer School DistrictSchool district26FTE
- Snow Country HardwoodsParquetry, hardwood, manufacturing25
- Snowbelt HardwoodsRolling pins, wood, manufacturing25
- The Lakes Community Healthcare, INC Hurley LocationDoctors of psychology offices21
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 6 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 310 people in all across the county; Mercer has one of its own. 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 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 Iron 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 Iron County.
Mercer home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Mercer$324,546
- Wisconsin$337,196
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Mercer 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.
- Mercer26.65%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Mercer19
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Mercer5
Zip codes with a Mercer address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Mercer — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.