Phelps, Wisconsin.
Typical home $343,639 (+11.8% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,025 (+132%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $36,359 +12%
- $307,279$343,639 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $86,741 +34%
- $256,898$343,639 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.
- Phelps$1,804
- 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 Phelps, WI rose 11.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Phelps, Vilas County, Wisconsin
Phelps is a town of 1,238 people in Vilas County. Half its households earn more than $71,250 a year and half less, against $68,431 across Vilas County; 7% of its people live below the poverty line. 91% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 9% are rented. Unemployment in Vilas County was 3.5% in August 2026, and the county had 1.6% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in construction, then schools and health care.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Phelps is a small town in Vilas County, Wisconsin, with an older population than most of the country. Nearly everyone owns the home they live in, and household incomes run a little above the county's. Winters are long, cold and very snowy, with January the coldest month, while July brings warm days, and precipitation through the year is moderate.
Work. Many residents work in the building trades, in schools, hospitals and social care, in restaurants and hotels, or in banks, insurance and property. Across Vilas County, the largest workplaces include the Northland Pines School District, the road builder Pitlik & Wick, and Pukall Lumber Company. Few people work from home, and the typical commute is a modest one.
Things to do. Water is the main draw here. The Wisconsin River, Lac Vieux Desert and North Twin Lake are all a short drive away, and Franklin Lake is close by too. For a longer outing, Ottawa National Forest, a protected area, lies a longer drive away.
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- 637households
- 24%of adults have a degree
- 7%below the poverty line
- 20 mintypical commute
- 6%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Vilas County had 8,411 jobs in 2025, 1.6% more 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 78° and lows near 54°. About 76 inches of snow and 32 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Eagle River weather station, 13 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Vilas County
- Northland Pines School DistrictSchool district219FTE
- Lac du Flambeau #1 School DistrictSchool district145FTE
- Pitlik & WickRoad construction125
- Pukall Lumber CompanySawmills122
- Roundy'sSupermarkets and other grocery except convenience stores102
- Woodruff J1 School DistrictSchool district86FTE
- Aspirus Eagle River HospitalCritical access hospital68FTE
- FedExCourier and express delivery services52
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 13 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 885 people in all across the county; Phelps has one of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); 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
- Strong windRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Vilas 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 Vilas County.
Phelps home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Phelps$343,639
- 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.
- Phelps19
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Phelps6
Zip codes with a Phelps address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Phelps — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.