Portage, Wisconsin.
Typical home $293,556 (+2.8% in a year). Madison, WI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$881 (+134%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $7,888 +3%
- $285,669$293,556 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $76,033 +35%
- $217,523$293,556 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.
- Portage$1,541
- 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 Portage, WI rose 2.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Portage, Columbia County, Wisconsin
Portage is a city of 10,581 people in Columbia County. Half its households earn more than $64,722 a year and half less, against $85,351 across Columbia County; 14% of its people live below the poverty line. 59% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 41% are rented. Unemployment in Columbia County was 3.1% in August 2026, and the county had 0.9% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in manufacturing, 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Portage is a small city in Columbia County, Wisconsin, with an age profile close to that of the country as a whole. Household incomes run well below the county's, and more homes are lived in by their owners than rented, though renters make up a real part of the town. Winters are cold and snowy, with January the coldest month, and summers are warm, with July the warmest.
Work. Residents work mostly in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, and in professional and business services. Among the largest workplaces in Portage are Walmart, the Portage Community School District and Divine Savior Hospital. Fewer adults hold a four-year degree than in many places, most people travel to work rather than working from home, and the typical commute is short.
Things to do. Close to town, the Baraboo River and Cascade Mountain, a ski area, are a short drive away, and Fort Winnebago sits in or beside town. For a longer outing, Devil's Lake is a drive away, and the Ice Age Trail is another longer drive for walkers.
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- 4,132households
- 20%of adults have a degree
- 14%below the poverty line
- 22 mintypical commute
- 6%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Columbia County had 21,764 jobs in 2025, 0.9% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 26° and lows near 10°; warmest in July, with highs near 82° and lows near 62°. About 39 inches of snow and 38 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Portage Wwtp weather station, 2 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Portage
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters367
- Portage Community School DistrictSchool district304FTE
- Divine Savior HospitalGeneral hospital280FTE
- Saint-GobainRubber goods, mechanical, manufacturing268
- Kruger Family IndustriesBadges, plastics, manufacturing235
- Cardinal FG0220
- Morski BrandsSalads, fresh or refrigerated, manufacturing125
- Festival FoodsRetail - grocery102
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 22 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,345 people in all. 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
- HailVery high
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively 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 Columbia 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 Columbia County and the Madison, WI metro.
Portage home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Portage$293,556
- 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 3 Portage 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.
- Portage29.07%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Portage50
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Portage18
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Portage address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Portage — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.